Tharptown’s Kelby Hallmark shoots for three in Friday’s game against county rival Phil Campbell. Photo by Bart Moss.

By Bart Moss

For the FCT

As football teams across the state were waging quarterfinal battles in route to the Super Six, hundreds of basketball gymnasiums are starting to come alive, and none was more alive than Tharptown Friday night.

The Tharptown Wildcats had to overcome an early onslaught by the Phil Campbell Bobcats to earn a win over their county rival with a final score of 85-57.

The Bobcats jumped out to a quick and commanding lead. Phil Campbell led Tharptown by as many as twelve points early in the game.

Senior post-player Colton Vickery came into the game with a shoulder injury. He tried to play but two minutes into the game it was clear he would be unable to continue. He was sidelined for the remainder of the game.

The Bobcats led the Wildcats 16-10 at the end of the first quarter. The Wildcat onslaught began late in the first quarter and continued on through the second quarter. Tharptown would outscore Phil Campbell 34-15 the rest of the first half to take a 34-27 lead into the locker room.

Wildcat seniors Kelby Hallmark and Riley Nolan led the charge in the first half with 13 and 10 points respectively.

Tharptown would outscore Phil Campbell 51-30 in the second half in route to the 85-57 win.

“That’s the way it has been for us so far this season,” Tharptown coach Jonathan Odom said.

“It takes us a while to get going.  We are going to have stop that if we are going to have a chance to beat teams like Phillips and Belgreen.

“Kelby played his best game of the early season tonight. When he is on, he is hard to stop.”

Kelby Hallmark led all scorers with 31 points. Also in double digits were the Nolan brothers, Riley and Max. Riley, the senior, had 19 points while Max, the sophomore, scored 14 points.

Also scoring for the Wildcats were Heath Hatton (7), Nathan Chaney (5), Drake Lawson (5), John Staggs (2) and Christian Garcia (2).

Freshman sensation Bailey Motes led the Bobcats with 29 points. Also in double digits was Skylar Tackett with 10 points.  Rounding out the scoring for the Bobcats were Noah Williams (8), Ryan Saint (5) and Nathan Duncan (5).