By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

MONTEVALLO – It took a little bit of time for Gregory Dickinson’s squad to get rolling on Jan. 12 at home against West Blocton, but once they did, the Bulldogs did not look back as they cruised to an easy 82-47 win to move to 17-5 (6-0) in area play, locking up the No. 1 seed in Area 7 of 4A.

“We started out sluggish defensively,” Dickinson said after the game. “Reaching in, hand checks and all that. They kept it a close game while we were doing that, but we picked the defense up and started running our offense a lot better as the game went on.”

It was easy to see from the beginning that Montevallo had the more talented squad. The visiting Tigers did not have anyone who could stop Tavarus Hall or Tae’ Smith from getting into the lane, nor did they have a big enough body to keep Undreaz Lilly from causing havoc all over the court. West Blocton was able to keep the game close in the first quarter by crashing the offensive glass effectively and getting a few buckets in transition, but never was able to establish much of a half court offense. Midway through a back and forth first period, Montevallo held on to a slim 15-13 lead, and all West Blocton’s points had come from either put backs or transition buckets.

From that point, the Bulldogs ripped off a 9-2 run, aided by a couple of acrobatic shots in traffic from Hall and a three from Lilly, to end the quarter and take a 24-15 lead into the second. Dickinson was complimentary of the way Hall, who is in the midst of his first season for Montevallo after transferring from Thompson.

“I knew (he’d be this good),” Dickinson said. “He’s getting better each game, but I knew he’d be a big piece for us.”

The Tigers pulled within six at one point midway through the second quarter behind a continued push to crash the offensive glass, but a balanced scoring attack from Hall, Smith, Jamal Figueroa, Ahmad Edwards and Caleb Cottingham kept the Bulldogs in front. Up 44-33 with under 30 seconds to play in the half, the West Blocton defense lost track of Smith, and Lilly threw a dime to the rangy six-foot-five junior, who finished at the rim and drew a foul, pushing the lead to 47-33 at the half, and breaking the Tiger’s spirit.

After opening up an 18-point lead in the third period, the Bulldogs held West Blocton to just three fourth-quarter points as they poured in 20 themselves to get the big win and stay perfect in area play.

Moving forward, Dickinson reinforced that while his team in undefeated in area play and is a top-five team in the state currently in 4A, there are areas that still need to be improved.

“We got to continue to work on rebounding and boxing out, those are our weaknesses,” Dickinson said. ”And our press needs to be shaped up a little bit. We got a lot of guys in the press that like to reach in. We need to stop the reaches and be more disciplined in our press.”