By By Chandler Myers
Escambia County’s slump continued as they dropped their fouth straight loss following a 64-44 defeat at the hands of the Monroe County Tigers.
The Blue Devils (4-7, 0-0) fell to the Tigers (8-3, 0-0) for the second in a week and continued their free throw shooting woes.
Blue Devils head coach Anthony Hayes said the lack of free throws made is one of the key factors that led to the loss.
ECHS never had control of the game trailing the Tigers in all four quarters.
At the end of the first quarter, ECHS was down 21-11, and the Blue Devils could not find a rhythm when the second quarter began.
In the second quarter, both defenses buckled down and allowed less than 10 points. The Blue Devils held Monroe County to nine points, but were only able to score seven on their end of the court. At halftime, the Tigers went into the locker room leading 30-18.
Junior forward Kingston Craft paced the Blue Devils, scoring 14 points, while hitting 4-of-10 shots from the charity stripe.
Senior forward Johnathan Gholsby added 12 points, but did not do well in the free throw department shooting 1-of-6 from the line.
Hayes said his team must improve its shooting to themselves a chance at making it into the playoffs.
After halftime, the teams came back out each with its own goals in mind.
The Blue Devils came out looking to adjust and gain some ground on the Tigers.
Hayes said at the half, he told his team tot defend and box out better to keep Monroe’s athletic abilities to a minimum.
ECHS did a better job of keeping up with the Tigers in the third and fourth quarters.
During the third quarter, ECHS picked up its offense, but still could not keep the Tigers from scoring more points. The Blue Devils lost the third quarter 18-14, and went into the final quarter down 48-32.
Blue Devils junior guard Mark Watson and junior forward Lawrence Arnold scored five points apiece for ECHS, but had completely different results from the free throw line. Watson shot a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe, while Arnold went 0-for-5 in the loss.
Senior forward Dontae Johnson sored four points on the night, while hitting 50 percent of his free throws.
In the final quarter, the Tigers continued their domination and outscored the Blue Devils 16-12, with the final score 64-44.
Hayes said the ability of Monroe County is what beat his team, and added that to win games his must team must fix their flaws.
The Blue Devils participated in the county tournament this weekend, and host the final game of the tournament Monday night at 7:30 p.m. against the Flomaton Hurricanes.