The Escambia Academy boys’ basketball team lost 60-50 to Tuscaloosa Academy Thursday in the first round of the Alabama Independent Schools’ Athletic Association region tournament in Selma.

The loss means the Cougars won’t advance to the state tournament.

EA led the game at halftime, but miscues in the second half hurt them, said coach Kevin Woods.

“We played well,” he said. “We went through a stretch in the third quarter where we threw the ball away on three straight possessions.”

The Cougars kept it close in the fourth quarter, bringing the score within three at 45-42 with four minutes to go, but were then held scoreless for the next three possessions and were forced to foul.

“They made all but one of their free throws,” Woods said of Tuscaloosa Academy. “They made eight in a row at one point.”
Woods said he was proud of his players.

“We played well,” he said. “We just couldn’t get it done.”

Garrett Kirk led the team with 20 points despite battling an illness that kept him out for a three-minute stretch in the third quarter.