By By Matthew Nascone
After opening the 2007-08 schedule with three tough opponents and three losses, the Escambia Academy Cougars pulled out their first win of the season, 54-46, over the Crenshaw Christian Academy Cougars Nov. 30.
"Our pressing defense won the game for us because we shot horribly," EA head coach Kevin Woods said. "We got down early and the guys never gave up. We started pressing Crenshaw in the second quarter and never let up."
The Cougars (1-3) spotted Crenshaw a 12-0 lead before they scored their first points and trailed 16-4 after the first quarter, but the Cougars outscored Crenshaw 50-30 for the final three quarters, including a 20-8 drubbing in the third quarter.
"We turned up the heat in the second quarter and we pressed every chance we got," Woods said. "But we were not making shots early in the game, so we could not use our press."
Woods said the first win of the season feels good.
"We got that monkey off our backs and the kids were extremely excited after the game," he said. "And I was glad to see how excited they were about the win. We were able to pull it together after a bad start and that is great for our team."
Senior Tyler Harrison led the way for EA with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Woods said Harrison would have had a better night if the Cougars did not start so slow.
Sophomore James White led the charge in the third quarter, scoring 10 of his 12 points in the quarter for the Cougars. White added seven rebounds and six assists on the night.
Sophomore Michael Hippa contributed 9 points, two rebounds and two assists. Junior Blake Kirk had 8 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore Tank Mitchell and senior Tyler Brown added 3 points each and Mitchell had six assists and six steals.
Greg McGhee, Austin Lee and Seth Lassiter each contributed 2 points.
The Cougars traveled to Marengo Tuesday and the results of that game will be in an upcoming Advance. The team's next game is Friday at home against SMCA. Tip off of the JV girls' game is set for 4 p.m.