By By Matthew Nascone
Two games, two nail-biters for the Escambia County Blue Devils. For this edge-of-your-seat thriller ECHS squared off against the Jaguars of Hillcrest-Evergreen and sent them cowering back home with a 55-54 defeat.
"I can't deal with too many more of these kind of games," ECHS head coach Jerome Antone said. "Let me say it again, that game and finish was fantastic."
Frank Taylor proved to be a hero once again in this game. With 2:20 showing on the clock Taylor drilled a three pointer to tie the game at 53-53.
"He (Taylor) took it upon himself to make a play," Antone said. "He really stepped up and that is what champions do, they step up and make big plays."
Hillcrest was then sent to the line with about a minute to play and knocked down one free throw, giving them a one-point lead, 54-53.
That was no problem for ECHS senior Calvin Hartley as he drove to the basket and dropped a lay-up in the net and was fouled. With 19.8 seconds left to play the Blue Devils were up 56-54 after Hartley drained the free throw.
The Devil defense held on for the win, its 14th straight.
"I told Calvin to take it to the hole," Antone said. "I knew we could penetrate the inside when their number 44 fouled out. And he did that and sunk the shot."
Antone was so proud of his guys he could barely say anything except that this game was another great win for the team and the community.
Taylor led the scoring for the Devils with 18 points, followed by Hartley with 16 points and Chris Andrews with 10 points. Quartez James added eight points, Larry Bowens contributed two points and Kenny Johnson hit a free throw for one point.
The JV team did not fare so well as they lost 47-25. Head JV coach Marshall Davis said the team went back to basics in practice this past week.
"We went over fundamentals and the basics of the game and we will be better next week," Davis said.
Eddie Montgomery led the scoring with 14 points and he grabbed 10 rebounds.
The Blue Devils faced UMS-Wright in their opening area game Friday and the results will be in Wednesday's edition of the Advance.