By By Adam Robinson
Sports Editor
A tough first quarter and a tough first half that saw the Tigers trail 27-11 and 49-20 at the half led to an 86-64 defeat of the T.R. Miller Tigers Monday night against Choctaw County in Butler.
After being down by 16 at the end of the first quarter, the Tigers were outscored 22-9 in the second half to trail by 29 points at the half.
In the second half, the Tigers (5-16) were outscored 23-20 in the third quarter to fall behind 72-40 heading into the fourth quarter, but outscored Choctaw County 24-14 in the fourth quarter.
Edge said he was happy with placing area runner up, considering the year the Tigers have had.
Derrick Riley led the Tigers with 13 points and Joe McCorvey added 10.
Terez Lane chipped in nine points and Matt Lane added eight points.
Justin Payne had eight points and Corey Redfearn added six points.
Wes Dickey had four points and Keenan Pride had three points.
Cortez Banks chipped in two points and Deonte Powell had one point.
Payne, Redfearn and Terez Lane all made the all tournament team for the Tigers.
T.R. Miller will now travel to take on Central of Hayneville Friday night in the sub area round of the playoffs.
With a win, the Tigers will advance to the South Regional in Troy next week and with a loss, will end their season.
In the game Monday night, Choctaw County jumped out to an early 4-0 lead and held a 7-2 lead with 6:14 left to play in the first quarter.
Redfearn added to free throws for the Tigers to cut the lead to 7-4 at the 5:56 mark.
From there, Choctaw County went on an 8-0 run to claim a 15-4 lead and added a 5-0 run in the quarter to hold a 24-8 lead and lead 27-11 at the end of the first quarter.
Choctaw County made it a 9-0 run to start the second quart and hold a 33-11 lead with 6:49 left to play in the half.
McCorvey ended the run for Choctaw County with two Tiger free throws to cut the lead to 33-13.
The Tigers managed only four points from the field in the quarter and were 5-for-11 from the free throw line as they trailed 49-20 at the half.
In the second half, the Tigers were quick to use a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 51-28 with 5:20 left to play in the quarter, but could not equal Choctaw’s scoring as a 23-20 advantage for Choctaw County extended their lead to 72-40.
In the fourth quarter, the Tigers from Brewton outscored Choctaw County 24-14 and ended the game with a Derrick Riley dunk, but the game was already out of hand as T.R. Miller fell 86-64 and fell to 5-16 overall.