Tuesday night’s matchup between #7 Hartselle and Muscle Shoals gave fans an early Christmas present. The teams battled in a hard-fought, back and forth game all night long.
Hartselle came out on top as they defeated the Trojans 60-53 in a battle of two of the top 6A boy’s teams in North Alabama. The win was the Tigers second over Muscle Shoals in the last two weeks.
In the first half, the largest lead either team would have was four points. The Tigers held an 18-16 lead after the first quarter but saw Muscle Shoals outscore them by six in the second to take a 30-26 lead at halftime.
The Trojans jumped out to a 37-30 lead to start the third. Hartselle closed the quarter on a 12-5 run to tie the game at 42-42.
The back and forth play continued in the fourth as Hartselle would take three-point leads on two different occasions only to have the Trojans battle back to tie the game. Muscle Shoals took their final lead of the game a little over three minutes remaining at 51-49. From there it was all Tigers as they went on an 11-2 run to close out the game with all 11 points coming from the free-throw line.
“This was a good win,” said Hartselle coach Faron Key. “We had a bad game but found a way to pull out a win.”
Hartselle (11-3) was led by the trio of Brody Peebles, Tad Sivley, and Trent Wright. Peebles finished with a game-high 22 points, Sivley added 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Wright scored 11. The three combined for 12 of the Tigers 17 steals.
Muscle Shoals (7-2) was led by Nick Griffith who finished with 15 points and Mikey McIntosh who added 13. The two combined for 21 points in the first half but was held to just seven in the second half.
