By Staff
Scot Beard
FLORENCE – The Phil Campbell varsity boys basketball team struggled early in its Class 2A, Area 14 Tournament game against Red Bay, but rallied for a 72-45 victory to advance to the semifinals and end the Tigers season.
Red Bay dominated the opening quarter and led by 10 points heading into the second before Phil Campbell began to rally.
Midway through the period Pablo Santiago and Adam Mitchell hit back-to-back 3-pointers for the Bobcats to cut the deficit to one. Phil After that Phil Campbell closed the first half with a 7-3 run to take a 30-27 lead into the locker room.
"The way it started I thought we might not do well," said Phil Campbell coach Gary Odom.
The Bobcats continued its offensive explosion in the second half as Phil Campbell outscored the Tigers 23-9.
Santiago led the Bobcats with 35 points and 16 rebounds.
"He did good. I knew he got a lot of rebounds and points," Odom said. "They did a good job of getting the ball to him."
It was the first game the Bobcats played without Lawrence Butts, who had shoulder surgery last week.
Mitchell was the only other Bobcat in double figures with 10 points. Bailey Welborn and Austin Nix scored eight points each while Matt Waid added five, Josh Brannon scored four and Jordan Benford added two.
Cory Timbs led Red Bay with 11 points while Cody Reynolds added nine.
Also scoring for the Tigers were Chase Lindsey (8), Nathan Gray (7), Andy Thorn (5) and Curtis Morrell (5).
With the win, Phil Campbell advances to the semifinals to play host Mars Hill at 7:30 p.m. tonight.
"It's going to be a tough game," Odom said. "We know what they do, but it's hard to stop what they do."