Sports Writer

After going on a three point barrage over the past three weeks, the third ranked Goshen High School Eagles found the going rough from beyond the arc for a change.

However, the Eagles found other ways to produce as they used a strong inside attack and awesome team defense to grind out a 63-39 victory over the Brantley

Bulldogs in local high school basketball action Saturday night.

With the win, the Eagles extended their winning streak to nine games exceeding the seven win streak they had at the start of the season as they continue to prepare for this week’s Class 2A Area 2 Tournament in Goshen starting Thursday night with Georgiana and Highland in the play-in game. The winner of the Georgiana-Highland Home game will face Goshen this Saturday night at 7 p.m. in Eagle Gym.

After hitting a combined 18 three pointers in its victories over Pike County and Red Level this past week, Goshen failed a to hit a single shot from three-point range against the Bulldogs (10-10) in 19 attempts. In order to compensate for the lack of long range shooting, the Eagles took the ball inside and hit 24-of-31 shots from inside the paint against the smaller Bulldog front line. For the contest, the Eagles 24-of-50 from the field for 48 percent.

Goshen head coach Major Lane said playing three games in five days finally caught up with the guard oriented Eagles this weekend.

"Playing three games in one week really set us back in that we didn’t shoot the ball well from the perimeter," Lane said. "In the first half, we couldn’t get on track. But in the second half we forced some turnovers on our traps and got some easy baskets. We were able to get the ball inside to (Kendaris) Pelton and (Jamar) Tucker and put it away in the third quarter."

However, Lane said he was proud of how the defense held up in spite of the offensive shortcomings against the Bulldogs.

"Defense has been our forte all season," Lane said. "When we hold people around 40 points, we will win the game. Our job is to hold the opponents down regardless of what the other people do."

Pelton led the Eagles (17-2) in scoring with 20 points including 6-of-7 from the free throw line, while Jeremy Berry finished with 13 points including a perfect 4-of-4 at the charity stripe. Junior Averick Rogers finished with 12 points in the winning effort.

"As long as we’re fresh, we’re ready to go," Lane said. "I feel like we play better when we are rested. We want to win our 10th straight game so that we will have something positive to build on going into the playoffs. We want to stay focused on winning the area, the subregion and the regional playoffs so we can get the Final Four."

As far as tonight’s game with Elba is concerned, Lane said he expects a much better effort from the Tigers who are coming off a Saturday night loss to Enterprise. The Eagles defeated Elba 76-48 in early January.

"Elba has been playing pretty good ball," Lane said. "They are going to come in and try to avenge their loss against us early in the season. "I look for them to come in and begin their playoff run with a bang."

Brantley 60 Goshen 37(girls)

Tomichina Burnett scored 18 points as the Brantley High School Lady Bulldogs defeated the Goshen Lady Eagles 60-37 in girls basketball action Saturday night.

Other individual scorers for Brantley included Megan Burnett and Tiffany McClain each scoring 12 points for the Lady Bulldogs.

Ashley Miniard led Goshen with nine points while Enique Williams, Hope Wheeler and Tyeka Jackson each scored seven points in a losing cause.

Tipoff for tonight’s game with Elba is set for 5 p.m.