By By Adam Robinson – sports editor
After a disappointing 31-18 loss to Carver Monday night, the W.S. Neal Middle School Eagles captured a 42-35 thrilling win at home against Brewton Middle School to improve to 3-4 on the season.
With the loss, Brewton dropped to 4-2.
After the Tigers of Brewton took a 4-2 with 3:20 left in the first quarter courtesy of Darrion Salter and Kameron Winn, W.S. Neal came back and took a 5-4 lead at the end of the first quarter.
To start the second quarter, W.S. Neal came out firing as they took an 11-4 lead with 1:41 left in the half as Logan Williamson, T.J. Davis, and Dalton Evans all chipped in for the Eagles.
Salter got Brewton within 11-6, but Neal added a basket with 11 seconds left to go up 13-6 at the half.
Both teams came out firing in the third quarter as both alternated points in the quarter,
W.S. Neal took a 23-13 lead with 2:02 when Brewton reeled off seven straight points to close the deficit to 23-20 with 33.3 seconds in the third.
Marquis Banks closed out the scoring in the quarter as he put the Eagles up 25-20 at the end of the third.
The fourth quarter was an exciting one as W.S. Neal held a 37-28 lead with 1:18 left in the game, but closed within 35-37 with 17. 2 seconds left.
Brewton was forced to foul, but an intentional foul was called on the Tigers as T.J. Davis hit one of two free throws to give Neal a 38-35 lead with 13.2 seconds to go.
With the intentional foul, W.S. Neal received the ball back as Davis hit both free throws after another Brewton foul to give W.S. Neal a 40-36 lead with 11.1 seconds to go.
After a Brewton missed shot, Dalton Evans hit two free throws to put the game away for the Eagles as they won 42-35.
W.S. Neal was scheduled to take on Escambia County on Thursday and will be traveling to McCall on Monday for a 6 p.m. start.
In the game against Carver, the Blackcats held a 17-13 lead at the half, but scored 14 points in the second half and held W.S. Neal to only 5 as Carver won 31-18.