ECHS’s season mark now 3-6
BY JOSH FRYE
News Sportswriter
Escambia County High’s basketball team dropped two and won one during last week’s full schedule of games.
The Blue Devils dropped last week’s first game against Satsuma last Tuesday, December 1, 45-31.
“We had a pretty decent showing against the Gators; we just could not get the job done,” ECHS head coach John Shears said. “We took what we learned and tried to implement it in the rest of last week’s games.”
Despite strong scoring efforts by Sheldon Williams, the Blue Devils could not find a rhythm and were outscored during each period. Williams ended the game with 16 points. Hakeem Johnson contributed six points, and Tyson Moore nailed a three-point shot.
Stephen Williams, Jeremiah George and Kaiden Arnold added two points each.
On Thursday, December 3, against Hillcrest, the Blue Devils again fell just short of a victory, losing, 46-44.
“Despite the scoreboard, that was a good game for us,” Shears said. “We did not trail that much during the game until the end.”
During the first half, ECHS held the top podium in points at the end of each period.
The Blue Devils outscored the Jaguars 13-10 during the first period and 9-8 in the second.
After the half, things started to fall apart for the Blue Devils as Hillcrest began to step up on offense, outscoring ECHS 11-6 during the third period and 18-16 over
Williams again led the Blue Devils in points, scoring 27, while Johnson contributed nine, Jacob Dirden scored four, Stephen Williams and Arnold scored two points each.
Last Friday, December 4, ECHS gained a 49-30 victory over Flomaton.
Nine out of 10 players were able to find the basket against Flomaton.
For the third game in a row, Williams was the points leader for the Blue Devils, scoring 14 points. Stephen Williams scored eight, Johnson scored nine, Moore contributed five, Arnold scored four and George put up three. Jacobey James, Dirden and Anthony McCants all scored two points each.
“We played really good defense against the Hurricanes,” Shears said. “We have got to be able to score more three-point shots and improve on free throws if we want to be able to make it into the playoffs.”
With the week’s results, ECHS’s season record stands at 3-6. The Blue Devils will host T.R. Miller on Thursday, December 10.