Three Andalusia players scored in double figures to help lead the Bulldogs to a 63-26 Class 4A sub-region win over St. James Friday night at AHS.

Jacard Townsend led the Bulldogs with 21 points. Derrick King had 13 points, and Corinthian Sims contributed with 12 points.

The Bulldogs’ size and quickness on defense held St. James to 15 points in the first half.

Andalusia led 24-4 after the first period, and then outscored the Trojans 14-7 in the second period to take a 38-11 half time lead.

AHS coach Richard Robertson, said the key in the win was his team’s play on defense.

“We took them out of what they wanted to do with our defensive pressure,” Robertson said. “We had them outsized inside.

“St. James is not that bad — I’ve seen them,” he said. “But now, everybody from here on in will line up against us a lot better now because they’ve got size, too. The fact of the matter is that we could be smaller than the people we’re going to play.”

With this victory, second-ranked Andalusia improves to 30-2 overall, and advances to play in the Class 4A South Regional Tournament in Mobile at the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell Center. The Bulldogs will play Escambia County on Fri., Feb. 25 at 1:30 p.m. in the semifinals of the regional tournament.

The Bulldogs led 27-4 early in the second period, and put the game away on an inside pass from King to Townsend to help Andalusia take a 29-4 lead.

Then Sims made the front end of a pair of free throws to cut his team’s lead to 30-4.

St. James’ Taylor Wachs then hit a three-pointer to give some life to the Trojans.

During Andalusia’s domination in the first half, the Bulldogs did manage to give up nine turnovers.

“We still made too many mistakes,” Robertson said.

At the beginning of the Friday night’s game, Andalusia and St. James swapped a pair of turnovers before Townsend got things going with a three-point play.

Robertson said turnovers are something that need to avoided at all costs.

“That’s what we can’t do,” he said. “It’s imperative to get out on top to start with, then that way you can find out what the other team’s plan is.”

Andalusia was 9-of-14 from the free-throw line, and shot 55 percent from the field. St. James was 4-of-10 from the free-throw line.

The Bulldogs then went on to outscore St. James 23-6 before the starters were pulled out with 1:11 to go in the third period.

Quayshaun Denson had six points for the Bulldogs. DeUnta Benson had four points, and Justin Dooley had three points.

St. James’ C.J. Duncan and Wachs had seven points each.