By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
If this season is a nightmare, the W.S. Neal Blue Eagles would appreciate it if somebody woke them up.
W.S. Neal's long season got a little longer Saturday, as they dropped a 77-30 decision at home to the Hillcrest Jaguars.
Shooting on both ends helped the Jaguars race out to a big first half lead. Hillcrest hit 13 of its first 16 shots (82 percent), while W.S. Neal hit just two of its first 16 shots (13 percent). Another area of domination came on the boards where Hillcrest had a 22-8 edge in the first half.
That combination helped the Jaguars race out to an 11-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game, a 25-5 lead by the end of the first quarter and a 38-7 lead midway through the second quarter.
While Hillcrest used a significant size advantage to get several shots inside, it was equally deadly from outside where it hit four three-pointers in the first half (two each from Christopher Glover and Bryan Boykins).
The best stretch of the game for W.S. Neal came in the final three minutes of the first half. Not only did the Blue Eagles hold Hillcrest scoreless, but Alphonso Gross surpassed his team's previous first half output with a three-pointer, a three-point play and a fastbreak bucket that narrowed the gap to 38-15 at halftime. Gross went on to lead the Blue Eagles with a season high 17 points for the game.
That momentum did not carry over to the third quarter where Hillcrest began play with a 19-1 run that swelled its lead to 57-16. That surge included a dunk by Jerry Johnson.
The Blue Eagles (0-14), who hosted T.R. Miller Tuesday, will travel to J.U. Blacksher Thursday. W.S. Neal returns home Friday for a date against McKenzie.
At W.S. Neal
Hillcrest 25 13 21 18 – 77
W.S. Neal 5 10 4 11 – 30
HILLCREST (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Hines 11-0-0-22; Glover 3-3-0-15; Boykins 2-3-0-13; Jackson 5-0-0-10; Dukes 4-0-0-8; Ingram 1-1-0-5; Thompson 1-0-0-2; Nelson 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 28-7-0-77)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Gross 5-2-1-17; Hester 0-1-2-5; Freeman 1-0-1-3; Dexter 0-1-0-3; Godbolt 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 7-4-4-30)
Friday's game
See EAGLES Page 8
The Blue Eagles had another rough night Friday, as they dropped a 74-17 road decision to the Escambia County Blue Devils.
W.S. Neal hit just two first half field goals, as it fell behind 22-2 through one quarter and 38-5 by half-time. Little changed in the second half where the Blue Devils had a 36-12 scoring edge.
Ron Dexter led W.S. Neal with five points,.
At Escambia County
W.S. Neal 2 3 8 4 – 17
Escambia Co. 22 16 24 12 – 74
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Dexter 1-1-0-5; Alexander 0-0-4-4; Godbolt 0-1-0-3; Freeman 1-0-1-3; Hester 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 3-2-5-17)
ESCAMBIA COUNTY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Staples 2-3-3-16; McCants 6-1-0-15; Martin 5-0-2-12; Johnson 4-0-1-9; Sharp 2-1-0-7; W. Knight 3-0-0-6; H. Knight 1-0-3-5; Montgomery 1-0-0-2; Boykin 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 25-5-9-74)