By By Adam Robinson – Sports Editor
After waiting longer than the schedule had them set to begin playing, the T.R. Miller Tiger B team may have wished that their season waited a little bit longer to start after suffering a 49-12 loss to the Escambia County Blue Devils Friday night at home.
In just their first game of the 2008-2009 season Friday night, the B team Tigers were shutout in the first quarter of play against the Blue Devils as they fell by 37 points.
Darrion Salter led the Tigers with six points followed by two each from Antonio Payne and Devonte Jones.
Kori Jackson and Ricky Curry both added one point apiece in the loss.
In the game Friday night, Escambia County got on the board first with a bucket at the 5:57 mark and then cruised to an 11-0 lead in the quarter as they held T.R. Miller scoreless.
In the second quarter, Payne scored his first points of the season and the first points of the season for the Tigers as he connected with a basket with 5:24 left in the half.
T.R. Miller quickly got two more points from Salter as the Tigers put together a 4-0 run with 3:55 left to cut the Blue Devil lead to 11-4.
That would be the only points in the quarter for the Tigers. Escambia County quickly turned a seven-point game into an 18-point game as they went on a 11-0 run to hold an 11-4 advantage in the quarter and a 22-4 lead at the half.
In the second half, Escambia County jumped out to a 28-4 lead with 4:53 left in the quarter before Jackson connected on a free throw for T.R. Miller to cut the lead to 28-5 with 4:39 left in the third quarter.
After the free throw from Jackson, the Blue Devils went on a 6-0 run to claim a 34-5 lead with 2:20 left.
From there, Devonte Jones cut the lead to 34-7 for T.R. Miller when he connected with 50.4 seconds left.
After the Jones basket, Salter cut the lead to 34-9 for the Tigers with 7.6 second left as T.R. Miller trailed by 25 heading into the final quarter of play.
In the fourth quarter, Escambia County used a 13-0 run to close the game after a made free throw from Curry that cut the lead to 36-10 with 5:16. Salter added a bucket with 2 seconds left in the game to give T.R. Miller its finals two points of the game, but ECHS won 49-12.