By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

ALABASTER – Fresh off hosting the Thompson Thanksgiving Invitational, the Thompson Warriors defended their home court once again by defeating the Prattville Lions 78-31 on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at Thompson High School.

The Warriors used a blistering start to set the tempo and outpace the Lions for the rest of the game.

Thompson got its shots to fall early and dropped 19 points in the opening quarter. The Warriors also settled in early on defense and held Prattville to just four points in the first, which gave them a 19-4 lead after a quarter of play.

The Lions started to find some offense in the second quarter, but Thompson kept its foot on the gas and extended its lead by seven to a 36-15 advantage at the halftime buzzer.

The Warriors came out of the gate in the second half with their best quarter of the game on the offensive side of the floor.

Thompson scored 24 points in the third, which countered a 14-point effort during the same time frame from Prattville. That gave the Warriors a commanding 60-29 lead going into the fourth quarter.

The Warriors saved their best defensive effort for the final eight minutes. Despite being in firm control of the game, Thompson gave its all and held Prattville to just two points in the final period of play.

The Warriors offense added 18 points to their total before the end of the game, and that helped Thompson see out a 78-31 win at home.

A key reason why the Warriors won by 47 was because of their four players who scored double-figures.

DaeShaun Morrissette and Andy Olds tied for the team-high with 14 points each, while Morrissette added four steals and two assists and Olds had five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The other Warriors who scored more than 10 points on the night were Jalen Pritchett, who had 12 points off 5-for-7 shooting and also recorded three assists, two rebounds and two steals, and Masiah Robinson, who had 11 points, four rebounds and two assists while going 5-for-6 from the field.

In addition, Jay Green scored nine points while coming up with five rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Riley Bryant had nine points and a team-high six rebounds in the win.