The Selma Times-Journal

The third time was not the charm for the Taylor Road Academy Tigers as they walked out of the Morgan gymnasium on the short end of a 52-48 loss.

It was their third loss of the season to the Senators.

“Talent wise, they’re 25 points better than we are,” said Senators coach Lee Tate, who added that his bunch played the most “calm” game it has all season.

“Calm” might not have been the right word, however, for the Senators’ Weston Mason, who led all scorers with 29 points and led his team to the area championship while earning tournament MVP honors.

“We’ve been waiting for him to break out all season,” Tate said. “He just shot the lights out.”

Tate said his team didn’t let it get in their head that the Tigers seemed due for a win, especially since his bunch squeaked out a win in overtime over the Tigers the night before on a reverse layup by Sam Tate.

The Tigers (22-6) kept it tight all game, trailing by just three at the half, but the Senators stretched their lead to five by the end of the third period.

They managed to hang on despite going 3-of-7 from the free-throw line in the final minute of the game.

“We just came out flat in the beginning, and they threw some different things at us and we just rushed it,” said Tigers coach Cedric Drake. “We calmed down, and it put us in a position to make a run, but we came up short.”

Daniel Lee chipped in nine points for the Senators (17-6) while Heath Harrelson added six points and Coal Brown scored five points.

Chris Crum led the Tigers with 11 points, while Tony Smith added 10 points.