by Keith Ledbetter

For the FCT

With 12 seniors and several years of experience, Belmont’s varsity boys were expected to give the Red Bay boys a strong run Friday night.
The Cardinals led throughout the game and finished with a 62-34 win over Red Bay.
We knew it was going to be a fight, said Red Bay coach Matt Noah.
We didn’t play hard and we didn’t fight after we got hit in the mouth in the first quarter.
Noah said the Tigers made a run in the second and cut Belmontís lead to twelve but Red Bay gave up some easy lay-ups and were not getting back on defense.
Dylan Gresham hit a two point basket and Isaiah Jackson connected on two three-pointers. Jesus Kelly added a two point basket to round out Red Bayís first quarter scoring.
The Cardinals held Red Bay to only 10 points and had a 25-10 lead at the end of the first and took a 37-19 lead at halftime.
Red Bay trailed 50-23 at the start of the fourth.
Dylan Gresham led Red Bay with 11 points. Jesus Kelly scored 10, Isaiah Jackson had six, Nick Thorn and Buddy Kuykendall scored three each. Payton Thorn had one point for Red Bay.
I?was very proud of our younger guys,î added Noah.
They haven’t got much playing time on the varsity but they came in when we got in foul trouble and did a good job to not have much game time on the varsity team.
The Red Bay boys will play in the Waterloo Christmas tournament and will start the 2015 season with a home game against area rival Sulligent on Jan. 2.