By BY BRUCE HIXON – SPORTS EDITOR
Escambia County entered the final day of competition at the Escambia County Tournament in the driver's seat, but both Flomaton and T.R. Miller had a chance to claim the title with a win and some help.
The Blue Devils entered Saturday's final day of play unbeaten at 2-0 with wins over Flomaton and W.S. Neal, while both Flomaton and T.R. Miller stood 1-1.
Friday's games
T.R. Miller 69, W.S. Neal 33
The Tigers bounced back in a big way from their disappointing overtime loss to Flomaton in the opening round at the expense of their winless archrival.
T.R. Miller (3-2) jumped out to a 22-4 lead and led by as many as 25 points in the first half.
Wade Jackson was a big part of the early surge with a three-pointer, three traditional field goals and a free throw on his way to a game-high 22 points. Jackson also contributed five rebounds, which was second only to Kelly Stallworth's seven boards
The Tigers' lead hit 30 points six minutes into the second half when a charity toss by David Payne made it 50-20. It reached a game-high 29-point bulge in the waning moments when a bucket by Michael Arauz made it 67-28.
W.S. Neal (0-8), which was plagued by 22 turnovers, was led by Jamar Travis with 11 points.
T.R. Miller vs. W.S. Neal
T.R. Miller 16 16 23 14 - 69
W.S. Neal 4 8 10 11 - 33
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Jackson 7-1-5-22; Hetherington 4-1-0-11; Andrews 2-2-0-10; Arauz 3-0-0-6; Stallworth 2-0-1-5; Middleton 2-0-0-4; Cunningham 2-0-0-4; Walker 1-0-1-3; Fountain 1-0-0-2; Brooks 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 25-4-7-69)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Travis 4-0-3-11; Payne 2-1-1-8; Elliott 1-2-0-8; Wilson 2-0-0-4 (Totals: 10-3-4-33)
Escambia Co. 66, Flomaton 63
Escambia County (6-3) nearly let a 16-point second half lead slip away before it hung on at the end to nip the Hurricanes.
Flomaton's Tony Ellis missed a three-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer that would have tied the game and forced overtime. The Hurricanes (6-2) might have also been able to complete the comeback had they not missed four free throws in the final 30 seconds.
Frank Taylor led the victorious Blue Devils with 24 points, while Flomaton's Scott Walton led all scorers with 28.
Escambia Co. vs. Flomaton
Escambia Co. 23 15 14 14 - 66
Flomaton 15 11 14 23 - 63
ESCAMBIA COUNTY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Taylor 4-3-4-24; Lykes 10-0-1-21; Webster 5-0-0-10; Mathews 2-0-0-4; Knight 0-1-0-3; Jefferson 1-0-0-2; Riley 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 23-5-5-66)
FLOMATON (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Walton 4-6-2-28; Banks 8-0-2-18; Ellis 3-0-3-9; Lewis 3-0-0-6; Brooks 0-0-2-2 (Totals: 18-6-9-63)
Thursday's games
Flomaton 53, T.R. Miller 52 OT
The Hurricanes snapped a seven-game losing streak against the tournament host with a 53-52 overtime victory in Thursday's opening round.
After a tight first half struggle that saw Flomaton lead 17-14 after one frame and T.R. Miller ahead just 29-28 at halftime, the Tigers appeared to take control late in the third quarter.
A three-pointer by Corey Cunningham followed by two free throws and a three-pointer by Brandon Andrews gave T.R. Miller a 43-34 advantage headed into the fourth quarter.
The Tigers still had a 47-39 lead after a fastbreak bucket by Terrelle Brooks with 4:16 left, but T.R. Miller never scored another point the rest of regulation time.
The dry spell enabled Flomaton to catch the Tigers, which it did when Scott Walton hit two charity tosses that knot ted the score at 47-47 with 1:18 left.
T.R. Miller had two chances in the waning moments to win it, but Terry Hetherington's shot with 1.5 seconds came up empty as did a three-point attempt by Andrews at the buzzer.
The Tigers' offensive drought carried over into the first two minutes of overtime. Walton gave Flomaton a 51-47 lead during that time with a field goal and two free throws.
A free throw by Brooks with 1:46 left in overtime put T.R. Miller back in the scoring column. Brooks then added a bucket and Andrews followed with a field goal that bounced twice on the rim and fell through to give the Tigers a 52-51 lead with 50 seconds left.
Kelly Stallworth came up big on defense moments later with a steal, but T.R. Miller was unable to extend its lead when Brooks missed the front end of a one-and-one with 37 seconds left. It was the Tigers' third missed free throw of overtime.
The miss gave the Hurricanes the option of going inside instead of having to hit a three-pointer to get the lead. Flomaton did just that when Dominique Banks scored off an assist from Walton with 20 seconds left to put the visitors up 53-52.
Overtime ended the same way regulation did, as Andrews missed a three-pointer, this one from the top of the key, as time expired.
T.R. Miller vs. Flomaton
Flomaton 17 11 6 13 6 - 53
T.R. Miller 14 15 14 4 5 - 52
FLOMATON (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Walton 6-2-4-22; Ellis 4-1-3-14; Banks 4-0-0-8; Brooks 2-0-1-5; Edwards 0-1-0-3; Lewis 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 16-4-9-52)
T.R. MILLER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Cunningham 3-2-1-13; Andrews 2-2-2-12; Brooks 4-0-2-10; Curry 3-0-0-6; Stallworth 2-0-0-4; Fountain 2-0-0-4; Hetherington 0-0-3-3 (Totals: 16-4-6-52)
Escambia County 78, WSN 32
Frank Taylor's point production by itself was enough to beat W.S. Neal, but Escambia County had plenty of additional firepower in its 78-32 trouncing of the Blue Eagles in Thursday's opening round.
Taylor fired in 36 points, with near equal production. Taylor collected 19 of those points in the first half where the Blue Devils built a 39-14 lead and 17 more in the second half. Despite the fact Escambia County's lead hit 50 points in the fourth quarter and the Blue Devils had games Friday against Flomaton and Saturday against T.R. Miller, Taylor remained in the game until the final minute.
Taylor hit a pair of three-pointers and scored 12 points in the opening frame where the Blue Devils built a 23-5 lead. If Taylor's production was not enough, Escambia County got a half-court three-pointer from James Webster at the buzzer.
The Blue Devils already owned a 34-9 lead before Javoni Mickens' three-pointer put W.S. Neal in double digits late in the first half.
Jamar Travis led the Blue Eagles with eight points.
Escambia County vs. WSN
Escambia Co. 23 16 19 20 – 78
W.S. Neal 5 9 6 12 – 32
ESCAMBIA COUNTY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Taylor 13-3-1-36; Webster 3-1-2-11; Hartley 4-0-2-10; Watson 0-3-0-9; Lylnes 2-0-0-4; Jefferson 2-0-0-4; Adams 0-0-2-2; Riley 2-0-0-4 (Totals: 24-7-9-78)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Travis 3-0-2-8; Payne 3-0-1-7; Wilson 3-0-0-6; Bradley 1-0-2-4; Mickens 0-1-0-3; Smith 1-0-0-2; Alexander 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 12-1-5-32)