The Russellville High School Golden Tigers celebrate an Area championship win over West Point.

By Brannon King for the FCT

Russellville 68, West Point 61

The Russellville Golden Tigers claimed the boys Class 5A, Area 14 tournament championship by defeating the West Point Warriors 68-61 Friday night.

Joshua Seal led the Golden Tigers with 22 points. Adonnis Bailey (18) and Austin Stidham (11) also scored in double figures for Russellville.

The Golden Tigers used a strong fourth quarter to grab the big road win, outscoring West Point 19-12 in the final period to get the trophy.

Taylor Vincent helped out in scoring for Russellville with nine points. Avery Sears (5) and Devin Buckhalter (3) also scored for the Golden Tigers.

“This group this year, everything we’ve done all the way through to get to this point has been a process, and it hasn’t always been easy,” Russellville head Coach Patrick Odom said after the game. “We haven’t always done things right and played right, but this group has just gone and saw it through, and you saw the result of a lot of hard work and the process of coming together and overcoming adversity and having the character that you’ve got to have to be successful. We fell behind by nine, and that’s a game that two months ago that we wouldn’t have won, but this group has come so far. I’m just proud of them because tonight they get the reward for doing it right,” Odom said.

With the win, Russellville hosted St. John Paul II Catholic of Huntsville in Tuesday night’s sub-regional game. The Falcons lost Friday night, 34-23, to Columbia in the Class 5A, Area 16 tournament championship game. The winner between the Golden Tigers and Falcons will advance to the Northwest Regional at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville. Results were not available as of press time.

Russellville 55, Lawrence County 42

The Russellville Golden Tigers defeated the Lawrence County Red Devils 55-42 last Wednesday night in a game played at West Point to advance to the championship game of the boys Class 5A, Area 14 tournament.

Russellville opened up a 12-6 lead in the first quarter and led 27-25 at the half. The first half featured three ties and seven lead changes on the scoreboard. The Golden Tigers outscored the Red Devils 16-6 in the final period to pull away for the win.

“I expected Lawrence County to give a great effort, which they did,” Russellville head Coach Patrick Odom said. “I was very proud of our guys because as tight as the game stayed for a while, our guys never panicked. We finished the game on about a 14-0 run off of defense and rebounding, and we took care of the ball really well. We just grinded out a good tournament win.”

Avery Sears led Russellville in scoring with 17 points. Adonnis Bailey added 14 points for the Golden Tigers. Following Sears and Bailey in scoring for Russellville were Taylor Vincent (8), Devin Buckhalter (8), Joshua Seal (6) and Austin Stidham (2).