Escambia County’s Lue Williams scored 17 points to help lead the Blue Devils to a 54-43 victory over Monroe County in the ECHS Holiday Tournament on Dec. 28.

Williams, the tournament most valuable player, scored 11 of his points in the second half.

The Blue Devils, who defeated Andalusia 72-40 on night one of the tournament, led 20-9 after the first period over MCHS and 33-21 at the break.

Escambia County’s John Dirden led a late 4-0 run in the first half with good defense on the baseline.

“We played hard (Dec. 28),” ECHS coach Rodney Jackson said. “Monroe was a scrappy team. They played well tonight. They made a few shots.”

Jackson said it was outstanding to get a win heading into the New Year’s break and the second half of the season, which entails Class 4A, Area 1 play against W.S. Neal, UMS-Wright and Williamson.

Jackson said the key to the tournament championship was playing man to man and making shots against MCHS.

With the victory, the Blue Devils improve to 11-3 on the season.

Malik Brown chipped in 10 points in the win; Allen Pattesron had seven; and Sheldon Williams had five.

Monroe County’s Torion Gibbs led with 19 points.

Lue Williams and Patterson, ECHS; Elijah McClain, Andalusia; Gibbs, MCHS; and Graderius Brown, Linden, made the all tournament team.

ECHS 72,

Andalusia 40

Slow starts sometimes spur something to behold.

Escambia County found itself trailing 13-5 to Andalusia in the first period, but went on to outscore the Bulldogs 30-14 in the first half en route to a 72-40 victory in the ECHS Holiday Tournament Thursday night.

“We played hard tonight,” Blue Devils coach Rodney Jackson said. “It was just rust from the beginning with it being the Christmas holiday. We played well together in the second half. Andalusia’s got a good team.”

With the victory, the Blue Devils advance to the tournament, where they will play former area foe Monroe County tomorrow night at 7:30. AHS will play Linden at 6 p.m. MCHS defeated Linden 85-70 in the first game.

Having a comfortable lead at the break, the Blue Devils (10-3) took control in the third period after a short 4-2 run by Andalusia, which was stalled by a Lue Williams 3-pointer a short time later.

The Blue Devils stretched their lead to 44-33 with 3:05 left in the third, and Williams converted two free throws as time expired going into the fourth.

In the fourth, ECHS kept pounding the basket thanks to Virgil Peoples and Jordaun Patterson. Trevon Lambert ended the scoring spree in the fourth with a layup of his own with 1:07 left in the game.

Keaun Samuel got the ball rolling for Andalusia with an early 3-pointer in the first period, and Patrick McCorvey followed with a put back for a 5-2 advantage for the Bulldogs.

AHS pushed its lead to 9-2 on a Franklin Osorio-Lopez layup a short time later.

Then, Dimitri Wiggins nailed a trey, which was followed by Elijah McClain drive to the basket.

Then, the run started for ECHS in the first half.

Malik Brown converted off a pass from Allen Patterson, and Williams got a 3-pointer to tie the game at 13-all.

Going into the second period, ECHS kept its lead throughout after a Demetrion Barnes 3-pointer from the start. Brown then converted on a layup, and A. Patterson dropped seven points going into the break.

“I think they just came out a little flat, and they hit a little spurt there and hit a couple shots to get their juices going and got them back in the game,” AHS coach Brad Goldman said. “From then on, they (the Blue Devils) played their game. We punched them in the mouth a little bit in the first couple minutes, but they turned the table pretty quick and put it on us, especially in the second half.”

Three ECHS players finished in double figures, including Allen Patterson with 18 points; Williams with 14 points; and Brown with 13 points. Jordaun Patterson chipped in nine points.

McClain led AHS with 14 points.