By By Chandler Myers
The winning continued for the Escambia County Blue Devils as the defeated the Vigor Wolves 60-53 and evened out their area record with only three games left in the 2008-09 campaign.
The Blue Devils (12-10, 3-3) won thanks to a strong performance in the second half.
Blue Devils head coach Anthony Hayes said the win was a must for his team and helped them earn valuable positioning.
ECHS started the game in slow fashion, and they allowed the Wolves to jump out to an early lead.
In the first quarter, Vigor attacked the Blue Devils on all aspects of the court and managed to score 15 points, while only allowing ECHS to chip in eight of their own.
The next period was much closer with both teams scoring in double digits. ECHS started to pace themselves better as they scored 11 points, but they did not cut the lead any as they gave up 12 to the Wolves. As the halftime buzzer sounded, Vigor went to the locker room with a 27-19 lead.
Hayes said at halftime the message was clear to his team on how to win the game.
After halftime, the Blue Devils looked like a totally different team and drained shot after shot.
In the third quarter, ECHS took control of the game and completely swung the momentum. The Blue Devils poured in 24 points, and only allowed the Wolves to score 10.
The final quarter allowed the Blue Devils to keep their momentum rolling as they outscored Vigor 17-16 and picked up the important area win.
Hayes said the win proves how much his team has come together.
Blue Devils junior forward Kingston Craft proved to the be the floor general for ECHS in the game as he led the team with 20 points.
Senior forward Johnthan Gholsby chipped in 12 points to help the Blue Devils’ offense.
ECHS senior guard James Webster proved to be the leader at the free throw line as he shot a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe. Webster scored 11 points for the Blue Devils.
Another strong free throw shooter in the game was junior forward Lawrence Arnold who score nine points and hit all three of his attempts at the line.
As a team the Blue Devils hit 14-of-26 free throws (53 percent).
Hayes said his players are still working to improve their free throw shooting.
Aside from the points that were accumulated from free throws several other players participated in the scoring.
Senior guard Charles Crook and junior guard Eric Davis both added three points for the Blue Devils in the win. Blue Devils senior Dontae Johnson scored two points.
The Blue Devils next game is Thursday night at Hillcrest. Tip off is at 7:30 p.m.