Escambia County High School went into its area game against B.C. Rain with an undefeated area record and came away with their area record still perfect as they beat the Red Raiders 71-53 in Atmore.

The No. 5 Blue Devils (20-4, 5-0) have mowed down their competition in area play as they look to clinch a second consecutive area title, which their victory over B.C. Rain put them one win closer to.

Things looked as if they would be tough for ECHS on Friday night as they fell behind the visiting Red Raiders 14-13 in the first quarter.
After the opening eight minutes of play, the Blue Devils dusted off any jitters and went to work in the second quarter as they pounded the Red Raiders with a 20-5 run to go into halftime leading 33-19.

Following halftime, the Blue Devils continued their impressive run with two more quarters of solid basketball.

In the third quarter, ECHS outplayed B.C. Rain in a high-scoring quarter as they put up 24 points on the scoreboard and held the Red Raiders to 19.

Leading 57-38, the Blue Devils finished off the game being outscored 17-14 by the Red Raiders, but held on for their fifth area win.

Blue Devil Fred Knight exploded in the contest with a game-high 34 points. Knight also posted two rebounds and two steals in the win.

Also getting in on the action for Escambia County were Tyrell Ford and Tony McAroy. Ford posted 11 points in the win, while McAroy had nine points, three rebounds and two assists.

Dalvin Craft chipped in five points for the Blue Devils with Na’Shawn Hartley scoring four and Desmond Williams adding two. Craft also had three rebounds, but Williams led the team with nine.

Rounding out the scoring were Desmond Johnson (two points), Carl Staples (two points), Darious Pettway (two points) and Corterious Ford (one point).

The Blue Devils next game will be Friday on the road at No. 9 J.F. Shields in Beatrice. Games begin at 5 p.m.

B.C. Rain JV 46
ECHS JV 33

Another slow start plagued the Escambia County Blue Devils junior varsity squad in their match up against the B.C. Rain Red Raiders last Friday in Atmore.

The Blue Devils (11-6) could only hit one basket in the first eight minutes of play and were never able to overtake the Red Raiders in a 46-33 loss.

B.C. Rain snuck out to an early lead in the first quarter, as they only needed seven points to gain an advantage over ECHS.

Trailing 7-2, the Blue Devils closed the gap to two-points in the second quarter by outscoring the Red Raiders 13-10. At halftime, B.C.

Rain led 17-15, which would be the closest ECHS would get to holding the lead.

Following halftime, the Red Raiders pulled away from ECHS with a strong third quarter.

B.C. Rain increased their lead to 10-points in the third period beating ECHS 13-5 on the scoreboard bringing the score to 30-20.

The Red Raiders closed on the win in the fourth quarter with another big quarter ending the game on a 15-13 run to pick up the win in Atmore.

Leading the Blue Devils in the loss was Darius McCarthy, who posted 12 points.

Malik McMillian scored six points for ECHS, while Josh Hill added five.

Devontae Walker (four points), Akeem Grey (four points) and Kevin Osuala (two points) finished up the scoring for the Blue Devils.