Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

PRATTVILLE – The Thompson Warriors continued to position themselves well for the No. 2 seed in Class 7A, Area 5 as they pulled away in the second half to beat the Prattville Lions.

In a rare area matinee for the holiday, Thompson defeated Prattville 86-61 on Monday, Jan. 20 at Prattville High School to improve to 3-2 in area play.

Cam Pritchett fueled the Warriors offense early on, scoring eight points in the first quarter alone. Landyn Smith also had five points in the opening period as the team combined for 20 first-quarter points.

Thompson needed every one of those points as the Lions also dominated on offense early, and the Warriors led 20-17 at the end of the first quarter.

However, Thompson’s offense went cold in the second quarter. Pritchett added four points to get into double figures but only got a Riley Bryant field goal to help him out as the Warriors scored just six points in the second.

Prattville’s scoring didn’t fall off as the hosts scored 18 points in the remaining minutes of the half to grab a 27-26 lead going into the halftime break.

Now trailing by one, Thompson flipped the script in the third quarter.

After not scoring the entire first half, Carson McKenney erupted for nine points in the third while Jaden Love scored seven points to get him in double figures and Bryant added two baskets as well. In all, six Warriors combined for 25 points in the third.

On the other end of the floor, Thompson limited the Lions’ response and allowed just 12 points, giving the Warriors a dominant 51-39 lead at the end of the third quarter.

That wasn’t all as Thompson had one of its best offensive quarters of the year in the fourth quarter. Ten Warriors teamed up to score 33 points in the fourth quarter, including eight points from Love and multiple baskets from Smith, Aaron Gover and McKenney.

That helped Thompson continued to outpace Prattville and score their most points since the season opener against Pelham on Nov. 11.

Love led the team with 18 points, and four Warriors joined him in double figures with Pritchett’s 15 points, McKenney’s 13 points, Smith’s 11 points and Bryant’s 10 points. In addition, Damonte Tabb scored six points, Trey Knight had five points and Gover finished with four points.

With the win, Thompson is now 13-11 on the year and 3-2 in Class 7A, Area 5. The Warriors will close out area play on Friday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. when they face the Tuscaloosa County Wildcats at Warrior Arena in the first of a four-game homestand to close the regular season.