J.R. Tidwell/FCT Austin Thorn (20) of Red Bay looks to make a pass. Will Washington (24) of Tharptown guards him.

The Red Bay Tigers boy’s varsity team topped the Tharptown Wildcats 52-29 on Friday night.

Red Bay led the fairly low-scoring game for the entire contest, outlasting a Tharptown comeback in the third quarter.

“We both struggled,” Red Bay head coach Greg Cash said. “ We shot the ball better in the second half, and we played hard defensively.”

The Tigers had a 6-3 lead with two minutes remaining in the first. This trend would continue through the end of the first half, which saw Red Bay take a 21-12 lead into halftime.

Tharptown battled back in the third quarter, with a 3-pointer by Kelby Hallmark bringing the Wildcats to within three at 21-18 with four minutes remaining in the quarter.

With 1:30 to go in the third Red Bay was ahead 25-20. The Tigers’ defense and missed shots prevented Tharptown from scoring again until Hayden Fleming ended the drought with 3:31 left in the fourth.

Red Bay ended the third quarter with four 3-pointers in a row from Brett McDowell, Austin Malone, Michael Ramirez and Malone again. The hot streak allowed the Tigers to run out to a 37-20 lead at the end of the third. Red Bay put seven more unanswered points on the board in the first four minutes of the fourth.

Tharptown could not answer Red Bay, and the Tigers picked up a 23-point victory.

“They just whipped us tonight,” Tharptown head coach Jonathan Odom said. “We didn’t play very well tonight.”

Malone led Red Bay in points with 13, with McDowell and Ramirez picking up 8 apiece.  Cole Rooker had 8 points, Austin Humphres and Austin Thorn scored 6 each, and Matt Montgomery added 4.

Hallmark led the Wildcats in scoring with 12 points. Also scoring for Tharptown were Fleming (9), Riley Nolen (3), Nick Long (2), Will Washington (2) and Kent Allen (1).