1 of 6

Keaun Samuels dunks a shot for Andalusia in the Christmas Tournament last night. Christopher Smith/Star-News

The Andalusia High School boy’s basketball team took care of business last night in the first round of the 52nd Annual Andalusia High School Basketball Christmas Tournament, beating Red Level High School 63-37.

Andalusia quickly went up 5-0 to start the game when Luis Reyes shot a three pointer and Keaun had a layup.

The Tigers got on the board when Matt Coleman missed a shot and Chance Russell put it back up to cut the Andy lead to 5-2.

Franklin Osario increased the Andy lead to 8-2 after shooting a three pointer with 3:47 left in the first quarter.

Coleman quickly replied with a lay up to make the score 8-4.

At the end of the first quarter, the Bulldogs lead 11-6. 

Russell began the second quarter by shooting for two and cutting the lead to 11-8.

The Bulldogs increased their lead in the second quarter by baskets from several baskets from Elijah McClain, Osario, Weaver and Samuels.

At the end of the half, Andalusia led 27-16.

Russell struck again for the Tigers in the opening of the third quarter to cut the Andy lead 27-18, but Samuels replied with a layup to make it 29-18.

A huge dunk Samuels, a layup from Weaver, a turn around jumper from McClain and a layup from Osario brought the score to 39-20.

The fourth quarter was huge for Samuels who dunked three times in 30 seconds and had a huge block.

Red Level got on the board the most in the fourth quarter, scoring 13 points, but it was not enough to come out with a win.

Samuels led the scoring effort for the Bulldogs with 18 points and McClain was behind him with 11 points.

Russell led in scoring for the Tigers with 14 points.

“I think this was probably our most complete game so far,” Head coach Brad Goldman said. “We played with intensity, commanded the floor well and made our shots, so it was probably our best game so far.” 

Goldman said that he hasn’t seen their next opponent play, but they will be ready to face them.

“I don’t really know Flomaton that well, but I know that they just won a football state championship so I know that they have a lot of guys coming back,” Goldman said. “We will watch some film and get a feeling about how they play and hopefully come out with a win.”

Red Level High School Head coach Alan Catrett said that he is proud of how hard his players played.

“I think we played pretty hard, we got after it,” Catrett said. “It was a pretty physical ball game and that hurt us in the paint and early on.”

Coming into the next game, Catrett said that they are going to work how they normally do.

“We are just going to come in and work on fundamentals,” Catrett said. “We may watch a little film but we will work on getting better and not really change what we do.”

The Bulldogs will face Flomaton tonight at 7:30, and Red Level will play the winner of Opp and Florala on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

More News Main

Cozart receives life sentence for role in 2022 murder of Trey Cobbins

Straughn posts second-half comeback against Pleasant Home in 62-61 thriller

Andalusia City Council approves Municipal Court move, 3rd Avenue and Heritage Park projects

Andalusia Area Chamber of Commerce seeks nominations for 2025 Business of the Year