Pats clinch 2nd place in Area 14 play with win

By Staff
Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
The Brewer Patriots picked up an important win at home over a tough Scottsboro team Friday night to lay claim to a second place finish in area competition. A 76-65 final score over the visiting Wildcats gave the Patriots an 11-10 overall record and a 4-2 finish in their area. Both of Brewer's area losses came at the hands of the Huntsville Panthers.
The Patriots led by as many as 12 points in the game and never trailed; however, the visitors rallied and pulled to within five points of a tie twice in the fourth quarter. They were down 68-63 with 42 seconds left when Matt Nielsen scored on a lay-up and then added three free throws, one on a foul called after his shot and the other two on a technical against the Scottsboro bench.
The Patriots were ahead 18-12 after one period, 40-34 at halftime and 57-49 after three quarters.
"They're a dangerous team because they do such a good job of spreading the floor and scoring from the perimeter," Brewer head coach Sam Brown said. "I thought our offense played well. We were able to get some easy baskets with our transition game."
Nielsen led the Patriots in scoring with 29 points. Rusty Boyd followed with 19 and Alex Brown added 17.
John Hamlett paced the Wildcats with 15 points. James Lusk added 13, Justin Manning, 11 and A.J. Petty, 10.
Scottsboro girls 50
Brewer girls 45
Brewer's Lady Patriots led by as many as 11 points before falling to Scottsboro's Lady Wildcats in an area game at home Friday night.
Brewer was ahead 14-8 after one period and 29-18 at halftime. The visitors rallied in the third quarter, however, and grabbed their first lead at 36-34 with 48 seconds left. Brewer's Andrea Crawford countered with a 10-foot jumper with eight seconds left to tie the score at 36-all.
The Lady Pats held a one-point lead with 1:55 left in the game and were down by just three points with three seconds left when a three-point shot by Nichole Hayes hit the back of the rim and bounced out.
By losing the Lady Pats dropped to 12-9 overall and 3-3 in area games. Scottsboro improved to 14-4 overall and 4-0 in area competition.
"They're (Lady Patriots) very quick and they gave us all kind of problems through three quarters," said Scottsboro head coach Jerry Kirkland. "But we've got some good shooters and they came through for us at the end."
"We were fortunate to get some fouls fall our way in the first half but were unfortunate not to get any in the second half," Brewer head coach Ricky Allen said. "We missed some shots we needed in the fourth quarter. That was the ball game."
Hayes led Brewer in scoring with 19 points. Crawford followed with 12.
Sisters Katie and Haley Nelson, paced the winners with 16 and 15 points, respectively.