By Staff
The Escambia Academy Cougar boys team finished our their week with tough games against Sparta Academy on Tuesday night and Crenshaw Academy on Friday night.
The boys came into the Sparta game with a 11-9 record and were hoping to improve that with a win against Sparta.
The Cougars got their wish to come true against Sparta with a 66-34 clobbering of Sparta Academy.
The game was never close as the Cougars took a 19-4 lead after the first quarter, and never looked back.
The second quarter was even worse for Sparta as the Cougars scored 20 points for the quarter to take a 20-point lead, 39-13, heading into half-time.
Sparta could not even put a small dent into the Cougars lead in the third quarter as they were once again outscored by the Cougars, 17-5 for the quarter as the Cougars took a 56-18 lead into the final period.
The Cougars erased all doubts of a comeback in the final period, by outscoring Sparta 14-8 for the quarter, to cease the win 66-34.
"We played real good half-court defense in the first half, " Cougars Head Coach Chad Prewitt said. "We completely shut them down in the first quarter. "
The Cougars had an impressive four players in double figures. Chris Moore had 12 points, Justin Shirley had 11 points, and Jace Beasley and Cole Norton had 10 points for the Cougars.
"We distributed the ball really well tonight, " Coach Prewitt said. " I was also impressed with the way we ran the floor and shot tonight."
The leading scorers for Sparta on the night were Chris Garner and Perry Castleberry. Garner had 15 points for the Cougars and Castleberry had 14 points for Sparta.
The next game for the Cougars was against Crenshaw Academy on Friday night.
The Cougars came in trying to improve on their 13-9 record. But a win was not in the cards for the Cougars however as they lost by one point, 47-46.
"It was a real close game tonight, " Prewitt said. "We had chances to win it but we could not make the shots. "
Crenshaw started the game off by taking a five-point lead 14-9 heading into the second quarter. Crenshaw's lead would be the biggest lead of the night for both teams.
The second quarter was an awesome quarter for the Cougars, as they scored 14-points in the quarter on a tough Crenshaw defense. The 14-point outburst gave the Cougars a two-point lead, 23-21 heading into half-time.
The third quarter was also very close for both teams, with the Cougars riding a 12-point third quarter to a two-point lead, 32-30, heading into the final period.
The final period was very hard-fought for both teams. The Cougars had the lead throughout the entire quarter until with about eight seconds left. With eight seconds left, Crenshaw hit a tough, pressure shot to put them up one.
The Cougars had a chance to win at the end, put the shot did not go in, therefore Crenshaw won the game, 47-46.
" I was proud of our guys for playing hard, " Prewitt said. "They really showed what they were made of tonight."
Justin Shirley lead the Cougars in points with 12 on the night. Robert Hardy followed with eight points, and Bradford Price and Chris Moore also had seven points on the night.
The leading scorers for Crenshaw were Jason Walden and Adam Wallace with 18 points each.
The Cougars next game will be against Clarke Prep on January 22nd at Clarke Prep. Gametime will be at 4:00.