Belgreen boys take down Haleyville

J.R. Tidwell/FCT Belgreen’s Jared Mitchell (10) looks for a teammate in the Bulldogs’ win over Haleyville Tuesday night.

The Belgreen boy’s varsity team picked up a hard-fought win against the 4A Haleyville Lions Tuesday night.

Belgreen had the lead for most of the contest, but Haleyville fought until the end of the game, which saw the Bulldogs win 50-43.

“I thought we played well tonight,” Belgreen head coach Greg Watson said. “We’re trying to learn to play without Josh [Devaney], so different players are having to take on different roles.”

Both teams were pretty evenly matched in the first quarter, with the game knotted up at 8-8 with 1:13 remaining in the first. Belgreen took a one-point lead into the second, but the score was again tied at 21-21 with under two minutes to go in the half.

The Bulldogs again ended the quarter with a one-point advantage at 24-23.

Tyler Medina started off the third quarter for Belgreen by hitting a 3-pointer, starting the Bulldogs off on the right foot.

Belgreen started creating turnovers late in the third, allowing it to pull out to a 35-30 lead at the end of three.

Haleyville fought back yet again, pulling to within two with less than a minute remaining in the game.

Medina missed a free throw, but Jake Tittle scored after an offensive rebound to put Belgreen up 46-42.

The Lions hit a free throw to make the score 46-43 with 18.9 seconds remaining, but Chase Landers and Medina made two free throws apiece to ice the game.

“It’s hard being a 1A, but I like scheduling bigger teams to get us ready for the county tournament,” Watson said.

Landers scored 18 points on the night, Tittle had 12, Medina totaled 11 and Dustin Smith had 9.