SPANISH FORT, Alabama — The Spanish Fort Toros held a 17 point lead at the half and fought off a furious Gulf Shores rally in the fourth period to beat the Dolphins 61-47 in the first round of the Class 5A Area 2 tournament on Friday.

Reagan Eubanks scored 23 points and Jaleel Cousins had 19 points, 17 rebounds and four blocks for Spanish Fort (25-6), who hosts Vigor in the 5A Area 2 championship on Monday at 6 p.m.

"Both those guys have been our go to guys all year," Spanish Fort head coach Dru Powell said of Eubanks and Cousins. "Jaleel was coming off a triple-double and had 17 rebounds tonight. He does so much on both ends of the floor. Reagan is a real good shooter. Those two guys are our big scorers and they both played well tonight."

Spanish Fort led 10-2 after one period and extended the lead to 29-12 by the half. The Toros led 48-27 after three periods. 

"I thought the first half was terrific, we held them to about 4 points until about 3:00 to go in the half," Powell said. "They made a few shots and got to 12 by the half and I knew we couldn't hold them like that in the second half. They are way too good of shooters, like they showed in the second half. Without the first half lead, boy we would have been in trouble."

Gulf Shores started the fourth period on a 12-3 run and pulled within 8 points at 55-47 with 1:49 left. The Toros did not concede another basket to Gulf Shores for the remainder of the game. Carter Jones and Danny Rose hit free throws, and Cousins had a slam dunk with 56 seconds to play that sealed the win for the Toros.

"I wish I had the answer for why we started so poorly," Gulf Shores head coach Clint Wigley said. "We just came out flat. I don't know what it was, we were really fired up before the game and I could tell the guys had a good look in their eyes. We just couldn't buy a bucket."

Ryan Godwin led Gulf Shores with 21 points, and Isaac Ronan added 11 in the loss. 

"I'm proud of them because they didn't quit," Wigley said. "They fought back in it in the fourth. The hole was so deep that we just couldn't dig all the way out of it. That's a great group of kids, great seniors. I'm real proud of them even though we went down tonight."

Jones had 10 rebounds and five assists, and Rose had six assists and four rebounds for Spanish Fort.