by Brannon King for the FCT

The Russellville Golden Tigers finished the regular season with an exciting 60-57 home win over the Deshler Tigers Monday night.

Tyler Willis led the way for Russellville with a game-high 18 points.  Adonis Bailey and Taylor Vincent also scored in double-figures for the Golden Tigers.

“We beat a nice quality ball club tonight that’s very similar to West Point as far as what they are going to do.  I think they are a little more athletic than West Point,” Russellville head coach Michael Smith said.

Russellville will travel to West Point to take on the Warriors in the area tournament.  “I think it gives us a lot of confidence going into Thursday night’s ballgame and we’ve just got to keep it up.”

Russellville started the game by outscoring Deshler 18-8 in the opening period.  Willis hit two three-pointers in the first quarter while Adonis Bailey had six inside points.

Deshler was then able to get some things going with a 16-point second quarter to make the score 31-24 at the half in favor of Russellville.

Russellville got contributions on the scoreboard from seven players in the third quarter but Deshler held tough and only trailed by eight going into the final period.

Things got close down the stretch as the Golden Tigers held onto the lead.  Deshler cut the lead down to only 1 with just under a minute remaining and then Tyler Willis made a big play on the defensive end by drawing a charge.

The Golden Tigers made some clutch free throws and extended the lead to the final margin of three.  Deshler’s Terrance Byrd, who had 10 points on the night, had a shot to tie the game as time expired but missed a three-pointer.  Sam Howard was the leading Deshler scorer in the game with 15 points.

“I was glad to see us fight back.  We were down about 12 at one time and came back and we cut it to 1 with about 30 seconds left.  We had a chance to maybe get a steal and a bucket and we were excited about that because we could have folded the tents,” Deshler head coach and Belgreen graduate, Brian Pounders said.

Russellville got points in the win from Tyler Willis (18), Adonis Bailey (12), Taylor Vincent (12), Austin Stidham (6), Christian Foster (4), Colby Tompkins (4), Cedric Freeman (2) and Joshua Seal (2).