The W.S. Neal Eagle basketball team had an extra reason to give thanks Thursday on Thanksgiving after getting their first win of the season Wednesday against J.U. Blacksher in the Flomaton Thanksgiving Tournament.
The Eagles improved to 1-5 with a 45-36 win in the final game of the tournament.
Trailing 28-21 heading into the fourth quarter, the Eagles used a 9-0 run in the fourth and made 10-of-20 free throws in the quarter to outscore the Bulldogs 24-8 to get the nine-point win.
“It feels great to get the first win,” W.S. Neal Eagle head coach Derek Roberts said. “The guys played very hard. I think in the third quarter, we got kind of relaxed and only scored two points. We came out in the fourth quarter and shot the ball well. We played much better than we have been playing in the past and I hope we continue this intensity and play hard like that every night.”
In the game Wednesday, the Eagles of East Brewton fell to an early 11-0 run by the Bulldogs of Uriah to trail 14-8 after one quarter of play.
In the second quarter, the Eagles responded with an 8-0 run while holding J.U. Blacksher to two points in the quarter while scoring 11 to take a 19-16 lead into the locker room.
In the third quarter, the Eagles were on the opposite end as the Bulldogs used a 7-0 run to outscore the Eagles 12-2 to turn a three-point deficit into a 28-21, seven-point lead.
But in the fourth, W.S. Neal found themselves down 31-21 with 7:00 but would tie the game at 31-31 with 6:23 left. From there, W.S. Neal would outscore J.U. Blacksher 14-5 and 24-8 overall in the quarter to get the win.
W.S. Neal finished the game 13-for-28 from the free throw line in the win while J.U. Blacksher was 4-for-11.
Seven Eagles scored in the win with Jalen Harrod and Josiah Nettles leading the way with nine points. Dalton Evans and Montrel Banks both had eight points each and Donovan Millican chipped in seven points.
Austin Dixon had four points and Kenny Kiser added one point.
The Eagles will be back in action Tuesday as they travel to Flomaton for a 4:30 p.m. tip beginning with the B-teams.

Baker 68, W.S. Neal 29
In their first game of the Flomaton Thanksgiving tournament Monday, the W.S. Neal Eagles remained winless with a 68-29 drumming at the hands of Baker.
The loss for the Eagles dropped them to 0-4 overall. W.S. Neal was set to take on the loser of Bayside and West Tech Tuesday in Flomaton at 5 p.m. With a win Tuesday, W.S. Neal will play at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday or with a loss Tuesday, at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
In the game Monday, W.S. Neal was outscored 15-9 in the first quarter and 13-2 in the second quarter to trail by 17 points at halftime, 28-11.
Things did not get much better in the second half as they Eagles were outscored 17-10 in the third quarter to trail 45-21 heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth, Baker continued to pour it on the Eagles as they outscored W.S. Neal 23-8 to get the 39-point win, 68-29.
Austin Dixon led W.S. Neal with nine points and Donovan Millican added seven. Jalen Harrod had six points and Dalton Evans had three. Josiah Nettles had two points and Kenny Kiser and Rashod Taylor both had one point each in the loss for the Eagles.

Bayside Academy 52, W.S. Neal 34
The 2010-2011 basketball woes for the W.S. Neal Eagles continued Tuesday in Flomaton as the Eagles dropped to 0-5 with a 52-34 loss at the hands of the Bayside Academy Admirals.
The loss forced W.S. Neal into a loser’s brackets consolation game with J.U. Blacksher at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning.
With the 18-point loss Tuesday and the 68-29 loss to Baker to start the tournament Monday, W.S. Neal has been outscored 63-120 in the two tournament games.
In the game Tuesday in Flomaton against Bayside, the Eagles found themselves in an early 7-0 hole with 5:28 left in the first quarter.
After storming back to cut the lead to 7-6 with a 6-0 run at the 3:47 mark, W.S Neal trailed 14-6 after the first quarter after the Admirals of Bayside ended the quarter on another 7-0 run.
In the second quarter, the Admirals continued on their run and extended it to a 13-0 to take a 20-6 lead with 4:55 left before half.
W.S. Neal would respond again with a 6-0 run of their own to cut the lead to 20-12 with 3:48 left before halftime and would trail 24-18 at the break after outscoring Bayside 12-10.
After cutting the deficit to six points, Bayside used a 10-0 run in the third quarter to outscore W.S. Neal 15-4 in the third quarter to hold a 39-22 lead after three quarters of play.
In the fourth quarter, W.S. Neal ended the game on a 6-0 run but Bayside would edge out the Eagles 13-12 to get the win by 18 points and keep W.S. Neal winless this season.
Donovan Millican led W.S. Neal in scoring with nine points followed by Jalen Harrod with seven points and Montrel Banks with six.
Austin Dixon followed with four points and Trevor Burns added three points. Kenny Kiser and Josiah Nettles both chipped in two points each while Malik Williams added one in the loss.
W.S. Neal was 7-for-12 from the free throw line while the Admirals were 4-for-8.
W.S. Neal Eagle varsity boys coach Derek Roberts declined comment after the game.