By By Chandler Myers
A loss in the area tournament abruptly ended the Escambia County Blue Devils dreams of an area championship on Friday night as they lost to Spanish Fort Toros 74-52 in Vigor.
The Blue Devils (14-10, 3-4) fell to the Toros (7-13, 4-3) after a surprising performance by Toros junior forward Peda Bubalo. Bubalo scored a game-high 35 points in the Spanish Fort Win.
ECHS was paced by junior forward Kingston Craft’s team-high 13 points.
Blue Devils head coach Anthony Hayes said it was a tough loss for his team because of the late season effort.
The Blue Devils controlled the game early by outscoring the Toros 14-10 in the first quarter, but the momentum soon changed sides.
In the second quarter, Spanish Fort quickly crawled back into the game and ahead of the Blue Devils. The Toros scored 15 second quarter points, while ECHS only added eight to their total before halftime.
Hayes said after the first quarter Spanish Fort went all out against his team.
After the halftime break, things did not get any easier for the Blue Devils.
In the third quarter, Bubalo continued to lead the Toros as he scored nine of the team’s 23 points in the period. ECHS only chipped in 12 of their own and continued to trail Spanish Fort.
In the final quarter, the Blue Devils scored a game-high 18 points, but still gave up 27 to Spanish Fort as the Toros claimed an important victory and headed to the finals against the Vigor Wolves.
Hayes said the season might have ended on bad note, but his team did a tremendous job of making it as the No. 2 seed in the area.
Junior guard Eric Davis scored 12 points for the Blue Devils in the loss.