Samson outscored Florala 6-2 in the last few minutes of the Wildcats’ season opener Tuesday night to claim a 50-46 victory at FHS.

“We had a chance to win it,” FHS coach Brad Garner said. “We were tied 44 apiece, and we just got outscored 6-2 in the last few minutes.”

Samson led 13-6 after the first quarter and at the break, Florala took a one point 21-20 lead.

In the end though, Garner said the boys had some “good looks at the bucket.”

“We had a couple turnovers, and a couple missed shots that were good looks at the bucket that could’ve have tied it,” he said.

Florala held a 36-34 lead at the end of the third quarter, but Samson fought its way back outscoring the Wildcats 16-10 in the final quarter.

Florala’s Austin McNeill and John Bess led in scoring with 10 points each.

“Everybody scored a little bit,” Garner said. “We didn’t get point production out of the people we needed to get it from.

“I was really hoping there would be a couple of them that were going to get some more point production for us, and we didn’t get it,” he said.

Florala will travel to Baker, Fla. to play in the Gator Preseason Classic at Baker High School today, Thurs., Nov. 18 and Fri., Nov. 19. The Wildcats play Jay High School at 6 p.m. tonight, and Central High School at 5 p.m. on Friday night.