Priceville High School’s Bulldogs won championship honors at the Morgan County Basketball Tournament Saturday night by defeating Brewer’s Patriots. Team members, from left, are: (front row) Hayden Prentice, Derrick Couch, Justin Davis, Tyler Hinkle, Cody Gibbs, Drew Robertson ands John Hawkins; (back row) assistant coaches Donald Weeks and Mike Green, Chance Ellsworth, Chris McNutt, Michael Varner, Matt Teague, Harold Blades and head coach Darrell Haynes. | Clif Knight

Priceville High School’s Bulldogs lived up to their top-seeded status by defeating Brewer 54-39 and claiming championship honors in the finals of the Morgan County Basketball Tournament Saturday night.

The Bulldogs (22-2), who are ranked fourth among Class 4A schools in the state, celebrated their first county title in 45 years, having won last in 1967. But winning the tourney’s number one trophy didn’t come easy against the Patriots, who have claimed the title five times in the last nine years.

The game was tied at 8-all after one quarter; Priceville was up 21-16 at halftime and the Bulldogs held a two-point lead at 33-31 after three quarters. After that it was all Bulldogs.

Matt Teague sparked the Bulldogs with back-to-back 3-pointers and a lay-up midway through the fourth quarter.

“I’m proud of the whole team,” said Priceville head coach Darrell Haynes. “We had guys step up and make shots we had to have in the 4th quarter.

“Coming in I knew this was going to be a dog fight,” Haynes pointed out.
Brewer has a good, well-coached team and they’re getting stronger.”

“I feel this team has taken a big step in their season,” he added. “This is big for our program and hopefully the momentum will carry over to the post season.”

John Riley Hawkins scored 17 points to match Teague’s 17 points and Michael Varner followed with 13 points.

Brewer was led by Weston Pritchett with 13 points while Coty Benitez added nine points.

All-Tournament Team

Fifteen players were named to the Boy’s All-Tournament Team as follows:  John Riley Hawkins, Michael Varner and Matt Teague, all from Priceville; Joey Lawrence, Jeffrey David and Coty Benitez, all from Brewer; Timbo Slaten, Preston Adams and Aaron Wooley, all from Hartselle;  Raymone Hall and Antonio Little, both from West Morgan; Travis Davis and Austin Wiley, both from Falkville; and Caleb Hill and Trey Jones, both from Danville.