Red Bay wins area championship

J.R. Tidwell/FCT The Red Bay boy’s varsity basketball team poses with the 2A Area 12 first place trophy after defeating the Phil Campbell Bobcats 57-49 in the area championship Monday night at Northwest-Shoals.

PHIL CAMPBELL— The Red Bay Tigers again found themselves facing the Phil Campbell Bobcats, this time in the 2A Area 12 Championship at Northwest-Shoals.

Red Bay avenged two earlier losses to Phil Campbell by defeating the Bobcats 57-49 in a game that came down to the wire.

“[The difference in this game] was we got off to such a good start,” Red Bay head coach Greg Cash said.

Phil Campbell took the first lead of the game on a field goal by Skeeter Benford. At the 5:05 mark in the first Red Bay took the lead on a 3-pointer by Austin Sparks. Phil Campbell had a one-point advantage at 12-11 at the end of the first quarter.

The Tigers surged in the second quarter, propelled to a 31-20 halftime lead by by Cole Rooker, Austin Humphres, Barry Reach, Michael Ramirez, Ben Hubbard and Brett McDowell.

Benford did his best to keep Phil Campbell close, scoring 28 points and six 3s in the game. His next closest teammate was Colton Vickery with 10.

Red Bay never gave up the lead after intermission, but the Bobcats surged late to make the game close. Phil Campbell went into a full-court press early in the fourth, keeping the Tigers from running away with the score.

Jeremy Reed brought Phil Campbell within five points on a layup with 2:45 remaining in the game.

Red Bay scored enough points to hold off the Bobcats, and McDowell iced the game late with four foul shots. McDowell had 16 points for Red Bay, and Sparks had 13.