J.R. Tidwell/FCT Belgreen’s Jared Mitchell (10) looks for an open teammate while defended by Tra Elliott (3) of Red Bay Tuesday night in Belgreen.

BELGREEN — The Belgreen Bulldogs once again found themselves playing against county rival Red Bay Tigers Tuesday night at home.

The two teams split the wins, with the Lady Tigers taking an easy win in the first varsity match of the night 49-9 and the Bulldogs winning the boys’ varsity game 62-38.

One reason for the Bulldogs’ victory in the nightcap was their ability to jump on top of their opponents early.

Belgreen went from being tied 2-2 to having a 20-point lead at 33-13. The Bulldogs’ largest lead of the contest ended up being 25 points at 57-32 late in the game.

“We played well tonight,” Belgreen head coach Greg Watson said. “We moved the ball well and we played good defense. If we can hold teams to 10 points a quarter, which is what we’re trying to do, we’ll win some games this year.”

The Tigers are getting off to a slow start in the 2012-13 season due to a lack of preparation time.

“We had four practices before playing two games,” Red Bay head coach Greg Cash said. “We have no conditioning yet. We had seven guys come from playing football, so they didn’t get much practice time.

“We looked winded out there tonight, but Belgreen did a great job. They have a great defense. We competed better in the second half, but Belgreen is a good team.”

Chase Landers led Belgreen in points on the night with 27, including hitting five 3s. Jared Mitchell had 21, Dustin Smith added 12 points and had six rebounds and Josh DeVaney totaled 11 points and six rebounds.

Also scoring for Belgreen were: Brock Hester (5), Hugo Castillo (3) and Dakotah Leverett (2).

Barry Reach was the leading scorer for Red Bay with 12 points. Mike Ramirez had 8, Austin Thorn had 5 and Levi Humphres contributed 4. Also scoring for Red Bay were: Kyle Fuller (3), Tra Elliott (3), Bradley Brooks (2), and Zach Garrett (1).

Last season the Red Bay Lady Tigers made it to the 2A state championship game and only missed out on the first-place trophy by five points.

The Lady Tigers reminded everyone Tuesday night of that fact, and the fact that Red Bay’s defensive pressure can make games lopsided.

Despite holding the ball for six minutes in the second quarter, Belgreen suffered a 40-point defeat at the hands of Red Bay, thanks mostly to said defensive efforts of Red Bay.

“Red Bay is a good team; maybe better than last year even,” Belgreen head coach Richie Hester said. “We didn’t play well tonight.”

“We got off to a slow start,” Red Bay head coach Donnie Roberts said. “This team is still learning, but all they need is to play some games, and after about 20 we’ll be good.”

Lexy Lindsey led the Lady Tigers in points with 12. Allie Kennedy added 11 and Carlee Berry totaled 6.

Also scoring for the Lady Tigers were: Darby Madden (5), Kasey Sparks (5), Morgan Pierce (4), Alaina Hester (4) and Jade Faulkner (2).

Lexie Bragwell had 5 points for Belgreen, and Laken and Allyson Bragwell had 2 points each.

— stats kept by Jeremy Reed