Russellville’s Tyler Willis goes up against a Haleyville defender to shoot for two. Photo by Mike Mayfield.

By Mike Mayfield

For the FCT

The Russellville Golden Tigers opened their basketball season Monday with a win over the visiting Haleyville Lions.

The Tigers led for much of the game, leading Haleyville 33-22 at the half, before falling behind late in the second half of the game.

They outscored the Lions 13-5 in the last 3:28 of the game to take a 68-65 win.

“This is a great win for our first game and a great effort by a young basketball team,” head coach Michael Smith said.

“Tyler Willis had a great game with 19 points, and two players, senior Jalen Scott and senior Juwan White showed great energy off the bench.

“This is the first year of organized basketball for both these players and they did a great job in their first game.”

There were four Golden Tigers scoring in double digits. Tyler Willis led the scoring for the Tigers with 19 points including five three-point shots. Chris Owens and Jalen Scott each had 11 points and Juwan White had 10 points.

Rounding out the scoring for the Golden Tigers were Reed Smith with six points, Colby Tompkins with five points, Colton Hargett with four points and Christian Foster with two points.

The Haleyville Lions had seven players to score in the game.  The leading scorer for Haleyville was Hunter Hood with 20 points with Brady Sherill and Dakota Rushing also in double digits with 15 and 11 points.

The Russellville Golden Tigers will face Muscle Shoals in their next home game on Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m.