Florala Wildcats take down RLHS Tigers

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, December 19, 2017

The Florala Wildcats ended the 51st Annual Andalusia Christmas tournament with a 1-1 record after knocking off Red Level 77-40 on Saturday afternoon in Andalusia.

Red Level took an early lead when Chance Russell hit a step-back jumper to put the Tigers up 2-0.

Nealand Stone hit a jumper on the other end of the floor to even out the score.

Red Level’s Matthew Coleman drew a foul as he dropped in a layup and then knocked down the free throw 5-2 lead.

The lead didn’t last long as Rashaad Coleman sank a 3-pointer to the tie the game for Florala.

Florala’s lead continued to grow as back-to-back 3-pointers from R. Coleman and Jacob Hammac put the Wildcats on top 15-7 with four minutes remaining in the opening period.

R. Coleman then dropped in a layup to put the Wildcats up by double digits.

Hammac followed with a 3-pointer to extend the Wildcat lead, but Red Level’s M. Coleman went on a run to trim the Florala lead down to 22-16 at the end of the first period.

In the second period, Anthone’ Stone and R. Coleman helped push the Wildcats up to a 32-22 lead at halftime.

Florala came out at a blistering pace in the third period and quickly built an insurmountable lead.

Hammac found fire from behind the arc as he lit up the scoreboard with four 3-pointers in the third period.

The Wildcats cruised in the fourth period to earn a 77-40 victory.

Hammac led the Wildcats with 20 points including six 3-pointers. R. Coleman tacked on 16 points including four 3-pointers.

For his strong performance in the tournament, Hammac was named to the All-Tournament team.

“In the first half, we were pretty sluggish,” Florala head coach Troy Stewart said. “Our shots just weren’t falling, but the second half we played with a lot more intensity. Jacob Hammac was on fire tonight. He led the way and really helped get the guys going. Credit Red Level with a great game plan. They held us where they wanted to in the first half, and had (Matt) Coleman not gotten hurt just before halftime the second half probably would have gone a lot different.”

Russell led the Tigers with 13 points and M. Coleman added 10 points.