Hartselle sophomore Keondre Swoopes. | Caleb Suggs

Hartselle’s offense falters once again in second straight area loss

Caleb Suggs

Hartselle Enquirer

It had been a week since the Tiger’s saw the court as weather postponed their games last weekend. Hartselle hoped to get back on track after suffering a tough loss to the Austin Black Bears. The Tigers desperately needed to avoid losing to the Decatur Red Raiders, as it would put them in danger of being the four seed in the area tournament.

Hartselle opened the game strong as a steal and a couple baskets from Kyle Eddy helped Hartselle take a 6-3 lead. Decatur’s Felix Hampton cut the lead to 6-5 but Hartselle pushed the lead to 12-5 behind three point baskets from Eric Stephenson and Isaac Taylor. Tyrique Purvis helped cut the lead to 12-9 as Hartselle held the lead at the end of the first quarter.

Hartselle pushed their lead to 17-13 thanks to baskets from Keondre Swoopes and Seth Garner, but a three-point play from Purvis trimmed it to 17-16. Noah Burroughs finally put the Raiders ahead 18-17 with a couple free throws and this sparked a run that saw Decatur take a 26-19 lead at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Tigers tried to climb back in the game. Garner notched a three-point play that cut the lead to 28-22. Eddy later scored five points to trim the lead to 31-30 but Decatur quickly pushed their lead back out. Eddy kept to the Tigers in it with two more three-point shots as the Raiders took the lead at the end of the third 42-36.

Hartselle did their best to climb back in the final quarter but their offense just couldn’t keep up. The closest the Tigers came was when Swoopes cut the lead to 46-40. Decatur went on to win 59-51, handing the Tigers their second straight area loss. Kyle Eddy and Seth Garner led the Tigers with 19 and 12 points respectively. Tyrique Purvis led Decatur with 18 points.

With the loss, Hartselle drops to 1-4 in area play on the season. The loss makes the Tiger’s last area game against the Columbia Eagles almost a must win if they hope to avoid dropping to the last seed in the area tournament. In their last meeting vs. Columbia, Hartselle made a fierce comeback only to be denied the win by a game winning three point shot.