The Straughn Tigers held off the Brantley Bulldogs in the Red Level Christmas tournament Friday afternoon. The Tigers defeated the Bulldogs 54-43.

 

Both teams came out with a solid shooting effort, but it was the Tigers who held a 16-12 lead after the first period. Rollin Kinsaul paced the Tigers in the first with 8 points, and was 1-for-1 from the free throw line. Darian Jones had 5 points in the first for the Bulldogs.

 

In the second period, the Tigers defense put so much pressure on the Bulldogs that they couldn’t get anything going. The Tigers held the Bulldogs to 2 points in the second. Jones was the only Bulldog that was able to score. Kinsaul had a pair of 3-pointers to help extend the Tigers’ lead to 26-14 going into halftime.

 

The Bulldogs found a small spark offensively in the third, but the Tigers kept pace and were up 36-24 heading into the final period. Tucker Lawless and Brice Scott had 3 points each in the third period. Adrian Person, Jr. had 5 points for the Bulldogs.

 

The Bulldogs began to mount a comeback after falling behind by 18 points in the final period. With five minutes remaining the Bulldogs shrank the Tigers’ lead to just 4 points, but a strong effort over the final minutes gave the Tigers a 54-43 win.

 

Kinsaul, who celebrated his 18th birthday on Friday, led the Tigers with 22 points. Scott finished with 11 points, and Lawless added 10 points.

 

“We need to learn how to play with a lead, and not take the foot of the accelerator,” Tigers’ head coach Rusty Andrews said. “We can’t do that against a good ball club or we will go home with a loss. I was pleased of the rebounding effort, but we have to do a better job at breaking the press. Tomorrow we have Georgiana and it’s going to take our best effort to make it a game.”