Lowery delivers in fourth quarter for Red Bay boys

By Staff
Mike Self FCT Sports Editor
RED BAY - The Red Bay Tigers would prefer to forget all about Monday night's first half against Phil Campbell.
Kurt Kennedy and Randy Lowery made sure they could afford to.
Kennedy overcame early struggles to finish with a game-high 20 points, and Lowery scored 11 of his 17 in the fourth quarter as Red Bay remained unbeaten in area play with a 51-39 victory over the Bobcats.
The Tigers (4-2, 2-0 Class 2A, Area 16) endured a scoreless streak of more than six minutes in the first quarter and another of more than four minutes in the second as Phil Campbell (6-5, 4-3) used an 11-0 run to build a 20-16 halftime lead.
Carpenter was pleased that the Tigers were able to pull out a key area win on a night when Kennedy struggled with his shooting.
Red Bay's lead was only two midway through the fourth quarter when Lowery nailed a three-pointer to make it 39-34.
Griffin Harris responded with a trey of his own to trim the lead back to two, but two free throws by Chad Nichols stretched it to four.
A layup by Harris cut Red Bay's lead to 41-39 with 2:30 remaining, but Lowery sealed the Bobcats' fate with a putback, a blocked shot, and a back-breaking three-pointer that pushed the lead to seven with 1:20 to play.
After struggling to find his stroke in the first half, Kennedy came out hot to open the third quarter. The senior guard scored nine points in an 11-2 run by the Tigers that gave them a 27-22 lead midway through the third.
Phil Campbell tied the game on a basket by Randy Cochran and a three-pointer by Eric Glasgow, but Red Bay closed the quarter with treys by Matt Hester and Drew Entrekin to take a 33-27 lead.
The Tigers out-scored Phil Campbell 17-7 in the third quarter, bettering their total output from the entire first half.
Harris scored seven points to help keep Phil Campbell close in the fourth quarter, but the Bobcats were ultimately done in by their inability to finish around the basket and their poor foul shooting (4-of-13 from the line).
Harris led Phil Campbell with 13 points. Matt Thomas added 11, including 10 in the second quarter. Glasgow finished with seven points, and Kyle Nix added six.
In other recent local action:
Florence 55 Russellville 48
Siran Winston led the Golden Tigers with 10 points in Saturday's loss at the TimesDaily Classic.
Corey Trapp and Geoffrey Nelson each added nine points for Russellville (1-1), and Jarrell Nesmith had eight.
Kevin Turner led Florence (8-3) with 17 points.
Deshler 46 Phil Campbell 31
Cody Garrison led Phil Campbell with nine points in Saturday's loss at the TimesDaily Classic.
Martez Cole led Deshler (3-0) with 12 points.
Lauderdale County 85 Red Bay 60
Kurt Kennedy had 24 points for Red Bay in Friday's road loss.
Shawn Watkins had 22 points for Lauderdale County, which trailed 18-11 after one quarter.