By By Adam Robinson – sports editor
The W.S. Neal Eagles picked up their first win in the Escambia County tournament Monday night and ended a two game losing streak as they defeated the T.R. Miller Tigers 54-42 in the tournament finale.
With the win, the Eagles improved to 9-5 and T.R. Miller dropped to 0-7.
The Eagles outscored T.R. Miller 13-6 in the first quarter and 9-7 in the second quarter to hold a 22-13 lead at the half.
In the second half, T.R. Miller held a two-point lead in the quarter when they outscored the Eagles 19-17 to cut the lead to 39-32 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Eagles outscored T.R. Miller 15-10 and picked up the win 54-42.
Jeremy Nicholson led the Eagles with 21 points and Sam Ewing finished with 14. Kendrick Floyd poured in 12 points for the third and final Eagle in double figures.
Terez Lane led T.R. Miller with 14 points and Justin Payne added 12 points. Corey Redfearn had nine points for T.R. Miller.
Justin Payne made the all tourney team for the Tigers.
It was a tight first quarter until the 3:08 mark when W.S. Neal took a 7-6 lead and ended the first quarter with a 6-0 run to hold a 13-6 lead at the end of the first quarter,
In the second quarter, W.S. Neal continued on their run and expanded it to a 10-0 run as they took a 17-6 lead at the 3:18 mark left in the half.
Corey Redfearn ended the Eagle run with a free throw to cut the lead to 17-7.
From there, the Eagles held a 19-10 lead and a 22-10 lead before a 3-pointer from Terez Lane cut the lead to 22-13 at the half.
In the second half, the Eagles held their lead as much as 11 points until the Tigers cut the lead to 36-32 at the 1:19 mark.
After cutting the lead to four points, the Eagles responded and took a 39-32 lead at the half as T.R. Miller outscored W.S. Neal 19-17 in the quarter.
In the fourth and final quarter, W.S. Neal built a 13-point lead four times, but T.R. Miller cut the lead to 11.
From there, W.S. Neal connected on 5-of-7 free throws to claim the 12-point win, 54-42.