Selma started scoring early and kept on scoring to advance to the AHSAA class AAAAA Central regional tournament at Alabama State next Wednesday.

The Saints took out John Carroll High School 68-41 at Selma High School Saturday in the Central sub-regional.

“We played ok,” said Selma coach Woodie Jackson. “We still have to do better with a lot of defensive assignments that we missed.”

What Selma didn’t have trouble doing was putting the ball in the hoop.

Charles Eaton was a big reason for that.

Eaton had 35 points and 10 rebounds for the Saints in the win.

“He’s only a junior,” said Jackson. “He has continue to work, but he is a good player.”

Selma was able to jump out to a 13-3 lead in the first quarter and held John Carroll to only three shots in the quarter.

In the second quarter the Cavaliers began to make a run behind the shooting of freshman Marcus Merriweather, but the Saints scored five quick points to stop the run.

The quarter ended excitingly when Eaton hit an acrobatic, buzzer-beater to give Selma a 31-17 lead at the half.

The Saints continued to play hard throughout the second half and maintained their lead going into the fourth quarter.

That when Eaton and Selma started to just have fun.

With John Carroll beginning to press, the Saints were able to have wide-open lanes and Eaton took advantage and had two big dunks to put the game away.

Now Selma will begin to prepare for its match-up Wednesday with Talladega High School

“We are going to begin game planning for Talladega,” said Jackson.

The Saints will have to do a good job of playing good defense against the Tigers.

“They have several shooters,” said Jackson. “And their post man will be more athletic than what we saw tonight against John Carroll.”

Tip-off for the regional game will be 10:30 a .m. at Alabama State University in Montgomery.