The up-and-down season continues for the Escambia County High School Blue Devils’ basketball team after losing to area foe Thomasville, but beating fifth-ranked Hillcrest-Evergreen in games over the weekend.

The Blue Devils lost by five to the Tigers on the road, 56-51 on Friday. Desmond Williams led the team with 21 points, while Jarvis Knight added 19.

ECHS then vanquished Hillcrest-Evergreen 42-38 at home Saturday night. Williams added 16 points and Knight added 12 in the win.

Coach Earlando Courtney credited a good defensive game plan for help with the ECHS win Saturday. The Blue Devils’ shut down the post and Hillcrest couldn’t feed its most dominant player.

“We had a good game plan and we stuck with it,” Courtney said. “We made our free throws.”

One of the highlights was a “clutch” 3-pointer by Knight, which put ECHS up by one in a back-and-forth game. Courtney said the teams traded the lead “seven or eight times” during the game.

“Desmond was strong going to the basket as always and Jarvis had an excellent game,” Courtney said.

In the loss to Thomasville, Courtney said his team got outlasted and outplayed by the athletic squad.

“They didn’t succumb to our pressure on defense,” he said. “They outplayed us pure and simple.”

The win and loss move the Blue Devils to 9-9 on the year, but Courtney said there’s still time to right the ship with only one area loss so far. The Blue Devils will continue area play on Friday when they travel to UMS-Wright in Mobile. ECHS will then host Blount on Saturday in a second meeting between the teams this season.

The ECHS girls team beat Hillcrest Saturday 58-36.