By By Adam Robinson – sports editor
In a hard-fought area battle between the T.R. Miller Tigers and the No. 7-ranked Andalusia Bulldogs Tuesday night in Andalusia, the game came down to the last seconds.
But T.R. Miller dropped to 9-6 overall and 1-3 in area play when they lost 68-65.
After trailing just about the whole game and 43-33 at the half, the Tigers outscored Andalusia 32-25 in the second half to cut the lead to 53-49 and tie the game at 53-all with 6:39 left in the game.
The Tigers regained the lead at 56-55, their first since holding a 3-0 lead early in the game, and held a 58-57 lead with 4:39 left to play.
The game flip-flopped back and forth throughout the final minutes and was tied 63-63 with 1:07 left to play and 65-65 with :33.2 left in the game.
Andalusia regained the lead with 21.2 second to go on a two-pointer and then connected for one of two free throws to take a three-point lead at 68-65.
The Tigers had one last chance to tie the game and send it into overtime, but a last second shot missed and Andalusia held on for the three-point win, 68-65.
Terry Hetherington led T.R. Miller and he finished with 29 points. Brandon Andrews finished with 11 points, and Jordan Knight had 10.
In Tuesday's game, T.R. Miller opened up the game with a 3-pointer from Justin Payne at the 7:50 mark.
From there, Andalusia went on an 8-0 run to take an 8-3 lead with 4:26.
After the Andalusia run, T.R. Miller had a 5-0 run of their own to tie the game at 8-8 with 3:42 left. The game then flip-flopped back and forth over the final minutes of the quarter as T.R. Miller trailed 15-14 with 1:01 left in the quarter. Andalusia added four final points in the quarter as they held a 19-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter of play, Andalusia began to distance themselves from the Tigers as their lead went from five points to 16 points at the 2:28 mark.
T.R. Miller cut the lead from 16 to 10 points over the final 2:28 of the quarter to trail 43-33 at the half.
In the third quarter, it looked as if Andalusia was ready to put the game away as they jumped out to a 47-33 lead, but the Tigers responded by going on a 6-0 run to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 47-39 with 4:17 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers continued to claw their way back into the game as they trimmed the lead to six points at 51-45 after a Hetherington basket.
Hetherington added another basket as the Tigers trailed 53-49 heading into the final quarter of play.
In the fourth, the Tiger rally continued as the Tigers got a steal from Hetherington to get within two points at 53-51 at the 7:45 mark. With 6:39 left, Andrews connected for two of two free throws to tie the game at 53-53.
Andalusia quickly reclaimed the lead at 55-53 with 5:57 left, but T.R. Miller got their first lead since early in the game at 56-55.
After giving up the lead and regaining it again and then losing it, the Tigers tied the game at 65-65 with 33.2 seconds left.
Andalusia then took a 68-65 lead with 9.2 seconds left as a last second Tiger shot failed as the Tigers lost 68-65.