SPANISH FORT, Alabama  — The Spanish Fort Toros continued their winning ways in front of their home crowd Tuesday with a win against the visiting Williamson Lions 68-59.

On a night when the Toros trailed briefly at the beginning of the game they relied on key outside shooting to gain the lead and stay there in route to a region win against the Lions.

“Williamson has a very talented team,” Toros head coach Dru Powell said. “We feel very fortunate that we were able to beat them tonight.”

The Toros had big nights by a few players Tuesday, which helped fuel the team, but no one had a bigger impact than senior Reagan Eubanks who tallied 31 points on the night including 18 of those coming from behind the arc.

“Reagan is a really good player,” Powell said. “He stepped up tonight in an area game like we hoped he would.”

Even with the team getting the win and improving their record to 18-2 coach Powell knows that his team has some flaws. Team rebounding, which has been a bit of a problem for the Toros, took a step in the right direction Tuesday night.

“That remains to be an area we have to improve on,” Powell said. “It is something we work on every day. In the second half I felt like it was much better.”

The game started well for both teams as they combined to score 37 points in the opening quarter.

The Lions took their first lead of the game early in the first quarter when they led 7-6. They would then again retake the lead at 9-8 before the Toros would overtake the lead for the duration of the game.

The game remained tight through the first half until both teams went into the half with the Toros leading 34-30.

The action would again pick up in the third quarter when the Toros extend their lead to as many as eight points and finished with a 48-42 lead.

The Lions welcomed the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run that brought their deficit down to just one at 50-49.

Both teams continued to trade baskets. That is until the 2:55 mark. Coming off a three point basket by the Lions and the Toros getting ready to inbound the basketball the lights in the gym went black, prompting the game to be delayed for nearly 20 minutes.

After the delay the Toros were able to score 21 points in the final 2:55 seconds of the game to secure their 19th win of the season. Other than Eubanks, the Toros also had big nights by junior Quinn Atkinson with 12 points and senior guard Carter Jones with 10.

With the win the Toros improve their record to 19-2 (2-1) and more importantly move past Williamson for first place in the 5A region 2 standings. The Toros will be in action again on Jan. 11 when they travel to take on B.C. Rain. The Lions will also be in action today when they host Gulf Shores.

GIRLS: The Spanish Fort Lady Toros, with a great team effort and a suffocating defense, were able to hold off Williamson Tuesday night with a 41-38 over the visiting Lady Lions.

The Toros picked up their eighth win to bring their record to the .500 mark based in large part to a suffocating defense that proved to be the difference in the second half.

After trailing at the half the Toros held the visiting Lions to only 18 second half points which secured their three point win.

“We play really aggressive defense. I think our press worked well and we picked up a lot of our turnovers when we pressed,” Spanish Fort head coach Angi Puckett said. “We were able to get some easy baskets off of that. Overall we kept our composure and we held out for the win.”

The full court press is something that Puckett and the Lady Toros have relied on the entire season.

“We work it a lot during practice and we spend a lot of time on it,” Puckett said. “It is something they take a lot of pride in and their excited about.”

The game featured two scorers from each team that both lifted their respective teams on Tuesday night. Toro senior guard Elaine Wood and Lion junior Yasmine Beasley put up 21 and 17 points respectively.

Wood, who already came into the game Tuesday night averaging 18 points per game, stepped it up again against the Lions.

Even with the success of Wood, coach Puckett was pleased to see her other players step up throughout the game.

“I told the girls we needed to execute, be patient, and look for the open look,” Puckett said.

Both teams started the game off pretty slowly by only scoring 19 total points in the quarter that eventually saw the Toros take a three-point lead into the second quarter.

The teams continued to trade baskets in the second quarter although this time they were able to score more points that saw the Lions retake the lead going into the locker room at halftime.

With both teams battling through the game the lead for either team never exceeded six points at any time during the game which led to a game that went down to the very end.

Although Beasley and the Lions went shot for shot with the Wood and the Toros, Spanish Fort was able to muster a few less mistakes at the end of the game and walk away with the three-point win.

The Toros along with Wood also had contributions from seniors Lauren Davis and Madison Robson who each had five points.

Junior Kiara Inge was the second leading scorer for the Lions with 8 points.

With the win the Toros improve their record to 8-8 on the season including 2-0 in league play. The Toros will travel to play B.C. Rain today.