Sports Writer

The frustrations of the 2000-2001 basketball season continued for the Pike County High School Bulldogs as they dropped a 63-48 road decision to the Eufaula High School Tigers in local basketball action Friday night.

With the loss, the Bulldogs (8-15) dropped their ninth contest in the last 13 outings as they get ready for postseason play this week. The win completed a season sweep by the Tigers (11-12) over the Bulldogs.

Trailing only 15-8 going into the second quarter, the Bulldogs fell victim to the same problems that haunted them in Thursday’s setback to Goshen as they turned the ball over several times. As a result, the Tigers converted numerous Pike County miscues into easy baskets as they stretched the lead to 34-18 going into intermission.

In the third quarter, things got worse for Pike County

as Eufaula expanded its lead to 26 points at the end of the third period before the Bulldogs made things respectable at the end.

Calvin Thomas and Terrence McElroy led a balanced attack for Eufaula with 16 points apiece, while Antonio Dennis added 11 points and Rodney Jackson scored 10 points in the winning effort. Shermondre Jackson led the Bulldogs with 15 points, while Marquez Foster added 13 points in a losing cause.

In the girls game, Pike County (8-12) fell to (5A) number six ranked Eufaula (19-5) 52-14. No further information was given at press time.

Area Tournament brackets are set: The brackets for the Class 3A Area 2 boys and girls basketball tournaments were set last week at a area coaches meeting at Luverne High School.

On Friday night in Elba, the number three seed PCHS girls will play in the opening first round game against the second seed Calhoun Lady Tigers (14-12) at approximately 5 p.m. The winner will face the survivor of the game between Elba (19-4) and Luverne (3-17) which is set for 7 p.m. The girls championship game is set for Monday night at 7 p.m.

The boys tournament will take place on the Calhoun High School campus in Fort Deposit. On Saturday night at 5 p.m., the Bulldogs will tip things off as they face the Elba Tigers (12-9) in the first game. The second game will feature the number five ranked host Tigers (20-6) facing Luverne (7-15) in the nightcap. The winners will face off in the championship game Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

The boys and girls area champions will host substate games Feb. 15 and 16, while the area runnerups will be forced to go on the road. The substate winners will advance to the Southeast Regionals in Troy Feb. 20-24 at Trojan Arena on the Troy State campus.