By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
SPRINGVILLE – Gadsden City made the Tuesday night trip down I-59 to take on the Springville Tigers this week and returned to Gadsden with another mark in the loss column despite leaving it all on the court. Springville would use consistent scoring an good fourth quarter defense to seal the 3-point win for the Tigers.
The Tigers would open the game by outscoring Gadsden City by 4 points in the first quarter, 18-14. Ben Wood put up 8 points in the quarter to lead Springville and Ayden Walton helped out with 5 of his own.
The Titans would swing the pendulum in their favor in the second quarter, holding Springville to 14 while scoring 19 of their own. Brodie Frederick had his largest output of the night with 8 points in the quarter to go with Collin Lockhart’s 4. The Titans would take a 33-32 lead into the halftime break.
Springville would come out in the third and re-take the lead, scoring 16 points to Gadsden City’s 13. Frederick would add 5 more points to his already impressive night and Jake Connor would help out with 5 of his own, putting the Tigers up by just 2, 48-46, heading into the final period of play.
With a narrow deficit, the Gadsden City Titans did not want to take a loss back home but Springville would not be denied. The Tigers wouldn’t shoot the lights out in the fourth, putting up just 10 points, but that would be all they needed as, on the defensive side of the ball, they only allowed the Titans to score 9. Walton’s 5 points and Ty Harrison’s 3 free throws in the quarter sealed the deal for the home team. 58-55 would be the final and Springville would get back on the winning side of things.
Brodie Frederick led all scorers on the night with 14 points for the Tigers. Ayden Walton would put up 10 to help the team out and Jake Connor would add 9.
“That was our best rebounding effort of the season and we took care of the ball for the most part. This led to better execution,” said Brandon Easterwood, Springville’s coach. “Gadsden City is an aggressive, physical team. They got us pretty good at their place early this season so we understood the challenge. It was nice to see our team put an entire game together.”
Springville will celebrate Senior Night on Thursday against Oneonta before area tournament play begins next week.