The DeKalb County Tigers hoped to meet Watertown again as the tournament got underway Tuesday night in Watertown. DeKalb would first have to get through Macon County in their opening round game. DeKalb and Macon split during the regular season, each holding serve on their home courts.

Just weeks after they blew out the Owls in Smithville, the boys from Smith County returned the favor, concluding the regular season by hammering DeKalb 61-33, plunging the Tigers into an opening round game with Macon County Tuesday night with the loser’s season coming to an abrupt end.

The Tigers likely didn’t see it coming after they embarrassed the Owls in Smithville during their first meeting, 80-54. However, despite being last place in the district, knowing they would be playing the tournament as the eighth seed, Smith County came out with fire in their eye, taking an early 18-11 lead over the visitors. DeKalb came into the game knowing they were basically trapped in sixth place and would be playing Macon County in the first round of the playoffs. DeKalb split with Macon this year, beating them 85-81 in Smithville before losing their most recent clash in Macon in overtime, 58-52. Their tilt in Watertown Tuesday would be the rubber match between the squads.

Evans Jones was able to emerge for the Tigers in the second quarter, leading his squad with 10 on the night. He was the only Tiger in double figures as DeKalb didn’t have any answers in their final regular season game, finding themselves almost doubled up by half as they went to the locker room down 35-18. The first quarter ended up being the only period of the game where the Tigers hit double digits in scoring as they came out in the third and only put up eight points.

The loss ended the Tigers’ regular season at 6-21 and 3-11 in the district as they went to Watertown High School to play Macon at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The game happened after press-time Tuesday so the results of that tilt will be in next week’s edition. The winner of the game will play Watertown Thursday night in Watertown at 7:30 p.m. Watertown swept DeKalb this season. The winner of that game will them move on to Tennessee Tech Saturday to play first-seeded Upperman. DeKalb must win its first two games in the tournament to make the region playoffs. They entered the playoffs on an eight-game losing streak.

With the losses, the Tigers drop to 6-20 (3-10 in the district) while the Lady Tigers slip to 14-13 (6-7 in district play). DCHS will conclude the regular season at Smith County Thursday night, February 13 starting with the girls game at 6:00 p.m. WJLE will have LIVE coverage.