Super subs

By Staff
Mike Self FCT Sports Editor
PHIL CAMPBELL - The Red Bay Tigers picked up more than a trophy on Saturday night. They also left the gym at Northwest-Shoals Community College with some newfound depth.
The Tigers got 22 points from Kurt Kennedy and solid contributions from several reserves en route to claiming their second straight Franklin County Tournament championship with a 64-48 victory over Belgreen.
"The county tournament is definitely a big deal to us," Red Bay coach Rory Carpenter said. "It gives you bragging rights for another year, and we're excited about that. This is something we'll always remember."
With starters Chad Nichols, Brandon Colburn and Randy Lowery all on the bench in the first half due to foul trouble, Carpenter turned to his bench for help. He found plenty.
"We got some excellent play off the bench tonight," Carpenter said. "Anthony Stidham, Drew Entrekin, Ethan Davis and Caleb Page all came in and played well. Even big Kyle Blanton came in there at the end and got one to go down. It really was a total team effort tonight, and that's what it takes to win championships."
Of all the reserves, Stidham made the biggest impact, finishing with 12 points and eight rebounds while teaming with Matt Hester to give the Tigers (10-4) some inside presence with Lowery and Colburn out of the game.
"Anthony played his best game of the year," said Kennedy, who has helped Red Bay win three of the past four county titles. "We give him a hard time about being 6-7 and not being able to dunk, but he sure played 6-7 tonight."
Stidham had eight points in the first half, and Davis and Entrekin combined for seven more as Red Bay built a 38-30 halftime lead despite playing major minutes without three starters.
Belgreen (6-10) trimmed the lead to four at 42-38 on a basket by Nathan Hamilton late in the third quarter, but Colburn and Kennedy responded with layups to push the lead back to eight.
The Bulldogs had a chance to cut into the lead when Lowery was hit with a technical foul and ejected from the game for a flagrant foul away from the ball on Cody Rikard.
"Randy's a hard-nosed player, and I think he got caught up in the heat of the moment," Carpenter said.
Rikard, who played all but 35 seconds despite twice leaving the game with a leg injury, missed both free throws, however, and the Bulldogs failed to capitalize on their ensuing possession.
A basket by Kennedy early in the fourth quarter put Red Bay on top by 10, and he then found Hester for a three-point play to make it 53-40 with 3:47 remaining.
Belgreen got no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
Hamilton, Belgreen's leading scorer, finished with 15 points on the night, but he shot just 5-for-17 and made only two field goals in the second half before fouling out.
"He likes to take the ball at the top of the key and drive, and he's very good at going to his left," Carpenter said. "Basically, we just tried to get help from guys and keep him out of the lane. We wanted to make him go away from the basket, not toward it. We tried not to let him have a clear path."
The Tigers also made it a priority to limit the production of Belgreen's top two post players, Avis Smith and Josh Smith, who combined for 31 points against Red Bay on January 4.
The duo was held to 23 points on Saturday.
"We kind of used a box-and-one on their post players," Kennedy said. "They've got two guys who can really score down low, and we wanted to try and take away one of them."
The strategy seemed to work well.
Josh Smith finished with 12 points for Belgreen. Avis Smith had nine in the first half before picking up his third foul with 4:54 left in the second quarter. He scored just two points the rest of the game.
Rikard added six points, and Andrew Cansler had three. Will Richardson had one point.
Colburn finished with 12 points for Red Bay, including six in the first quarter as the Tigers built a 17-11 lead.
Hester and Davis each added five points. Nichols, Entrekin and Blanton each had two.
Kennedy had five points in a 9-2 run by Red Bay to open the game and then didn't score again until his three-pointer late in the first half broke a 25-25 tie.
He added a three-point play moments later to push the lead to seven, and his jumper with five seconds remaining gave the Tigers a 38-30 halftime lead.