Hartselle, Priceville claim top seeds in area tourneys
Top-seeded Hartselle Tigers and Priceville Bulldogs are set to host area tournaments as high school basketball playoffs get under way later this week.
Hartselle landed the Class 5A, Area 13 area tournament by virtue of winning a coin toss with Cullman. Both teams had identical 5-1 records against area opponents. The top- seeded Tigers will face the fourth-seeded Brewer Patriots in a 7 p.m. game at the J.C. Pettey Center on Friday. Cullman, the second seed, will face off against third-seeded West Point in the opening game at 5:30 p.m. Winners of each game will meet at 7 p.m. Mon., Feb. 13, in the tournament final.
Priceville is hosting the Class 4A, Area 13 tournament with a 6-0 record. The top-seeded bulldogs will meet fourth-seeded Good Hope in a 7:30 p.m. game on Friday. East Lawrence and Fairview will play at 6 p.m. Winners will play Mon., Feb. 13, at 7 p.m. to determine which team moves on in the playoffs.
“We’ve played Brewer three times already this season,” said Hartselle head coach Keith Wright. “We won home and away area games but lost to them in the county tournament. This should be an interesting game, and the key to winning for us is how well we shoot the ball. “
“I think we’re playing better even though we lost to tough competition the last couple of games,” Wright added. “We’ve played a lot of one-possession games over the season.
Our kids are excited about getting to play at home. They appreciate the great support they’ve had from the student body throughout the season.”
In the Class 2A, Area 15 tournament at Tanner, two-seeded Falkville will play three-seeded Cleveland Fri., Feb. 10, at 6 p.m., followed by top-seeded Tanner playing four-seeded Westminster Christian Academy at 7:30 p.m. Winners will meet Monday at 7 p.m.
Danville and West Morgan will play in the Class 3A, Area 15 tournament at Elkmont. Two-seed West Morgan will meet three-seed Clements Fri., Feb. 10, at 6 p.m. and to-seeded Elkmont will face four-seed Danville at 7 p.m. Winners will play Mon., Feb. 13, at 7 p.m.
Decatur boys 74, Hartselle 27
Decatur’s Red Raiders took advantage of a slow Hartselle start to run up a 44-6 halftime lead and coasted to a 74-27 win on their home court Friday night.
Chad Watkins paced the Red Raiders in scoring with 21 points. Garron Silver and Kendrick Cowan each added 10 points.
Preston Adams led Hartselle with 12 points.