Athens flies past Hartselle

Hartselle had trouble dealing with the Athens full-court press as the visiting Eagles earned a 61-45 win Monday night.

The Eagles got a huge boost off the bench, as backup Nathaniel Potts led all players with 16 point, 10 rebounds and 5 steals in the win while fellow bench player Marcus Davis had 10 points.

The Tigers stayed with Athens through the first half of the first quarter, but Athens went on a run to end the first quarter giving the Eagles a 20-12 lead.

Athens continued to put pressure on Hartselle in the second quarter as it extended the lead to 39-24 at halftime.

Hartselle slowed the pace down in the third quarter.

It worked.

The Tigers chipped away at the lead and cut it to nine points midway through the third, forcing an Athens timeout. Hartselle had more opportunities to close the gap, but the Tigers let points slip away at the foul line, going 7-for-19 for the game and 6-for-16 in the second half.

The Eagles once again turned up the pressure and pushed the lead back to 53-34 – the largest lead of the game – at the end of the third quarter.

Athens emptied its bench in the fourth quarter as the Eagles cruised to the win.

Hartselle failed to put a player in double digits for the game. The top Tiger scorer was Isaiah Fowler with 9 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists followed by Aaron Wooley and Matt Johnston with 8 apiece.

Timbo Slaten added 7 points and 4 rebounds while Will Tiffin added 5. Rounding out the scoring was Chance Partlow with 4, Terry Wiggins with 2 and Thomas Fleischman and Preston Lipinski with 1 each.

The Tigers return to their home court Tuesday night against Lawrence County.