Golden Tigers suffer first loss
By Staff
Mike Self, FCT Sports Editor
FLORENCE – Thursday night's game between Russellville and Florence seemed to be following the same script as the Golden Tigers' victory over Brooks two days earlier.
Once again, Russellville found itself trailing by six midway through the fourth quarter. Once again, head coach Michael Smith called time out to position his team for a late run.
Just as they had against Brooks, the Golden Tigers responded, scoring five quick points out of the timeout to trim the lead to one.
But that's when Jarrell Hollingsworth stepped in with a re-write.
Hollingsworth scored Florence's next nine points, including a back-breaking steal and layup with 1:11 remaining that sealed a 67-58 win and propelled the Falcons into the championship game of the TimesDaily Classic.
Florence (5-9), the two-time defending champion, advanced to face Muscle Shoals (9-2) in Friday's finals while handing Russellville (6-1) its first loss of the season.
The Golden Tigers had rallied to beat Brooks 58-56 in the quarterfinals, but Hollingsworth made sure Florence didn't share the Lions' fate. The junior guard finished with a game-high 24 points, including 14 in the pivotal fourth quarter when the Falcons out-scored Russellville 21-12.
"Every time they needed a big play, they just gave him the ball at the top of the key and let him penetrate," Smith said. "He played pretty well for them."
Meanwhile, the Golden Tigers had no answer for Hollingsworth on the other end. After a putback by Justin Thorne trimmed the lead to 56-55 with less than four minutes left, Russellville managed just three free throws the rest of the way.
"Our shot selection wasn't very good tonight, and we missed some shots we should have made," Smith said. "We missed too many layups. But our main problem tonight was on defense. You're not going to win too many games when you give up 20 offensive rebounds. We have to do a better job on the boards."
Adam Threet added 13 points for Florence, many of them coming on putbacks. Arsenio Ingram finished with 12 points, including a pair of three-pointers in the game's opening minutes as the Falcons jumped out to a 10-4 lead.
Russellville roared back to lead 14-13 on a three by Siran Winston, and the game see-sawed back and forth throughout the second quarter. Hollingsworth scored right before halftime to trim the Golden Tigers' lead to 28-27.
Russellville got hot from behind the arc in the third quarter, hitting four three-pointers, but Florence kept it close as the game was tied 46-46 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Golden Tigers took their last lead at 50-48 on a basket by Andy Pounders with 7:15 remaining. The Falcons responded with eight straight points, including five by Hollingsworth, and never trailed again.
Pounders provided a big lift for Russellville, finishing with a team-high 12 points off the bench.
"I liked what I saw from Andy tonight," Smith said. "He played really well. If he can continue to play like that, that will be a huge bright spot for us."
Winston added 10 points, and Thorne and Cory Trapp each had eight. Jermaine Bates and Terence Smith each finished with seven.
Russellville will return to action on Wednesday in a tournament at Brewer High School.
"We don't have to worry about being undefeated anymore," Smith said. "When everybody is talking about how good you are, it's easy to forget how hard you had to work to get there. Hopefully, this loss will bring us back down to earth a little."
