Russellville’s Chris Owens looks for the basket in Friday night’s game. Photo by Mike Mayfield.

By Mike Mayfield

For the FCT

The Russellville Golden Tigers lost a close ballgame Friday night, falling to the Colbert County Indians 73-63 in double overtime.

The Tigers led at the end of the first quarter 17-14 but the Indians fought back tying the game 56-56 at the end of regulation play. Both teams battled to a score of 63-63 at the end of the first overtime.  Colbert County outscored the Tigers in the second overtime to win with a final score of 73-67.

“I am proud of this team,” head coach Michael Smith said.

“We had 10 different players to score in this game. We played hard and just came up a little short at the end of the game.”

The leading scorer for the Tigers was Tyler Willis with 19 points.  Others in double figures included Chris Owens with 14 points and Colby Tompkins and Jalen Scott with 10 points each.

Other players scoring for the Tigers were Juwan White and Reed Smith with 5 points each. Colton Hargett and Austin Stidham each scored 2 points for the Tigers.

In separate action, the Golden Tigers lost to the Florence Falcons on Monday night 73-32. High scorers for the Tigers were Chris Owens with 9 and Colby Tompkins with 8 points.

The Golden Tigers travel to Athens Friday night where they play the Athens Golden Eagles in the first round of the area tournament. Game time is 7:30 pm.