Missing point-man Colter Norris, the Tigers debut at the District 8AA basketball tournament against Watertown was its last as the Purple Tigers claimed an opening-night victory at Hooper Eblen Center defeating DeKalb 57-42.

“It didn’t feel great going in,” said Tiger Head Coach Linus Martin. “A couple kids missed practice yesterday and missed preparation time. One kid didn’t even play and he’s our primary ball handler. As you can see we got ate up all night with making decisions. Real shaky with the basketball all night, we just never got into the offensive flow whatsoever.

“To give them credit they took it away from us. They pressured us all night and that’s been our Achilles heel all year when people do that and they exposed it. We didn’t make enough shots in a row … we got it to 8eight and they put in back to 10 and we never got any closer than that. It’s a good basketball team, a lot better than their record.”

Trailing 18-11 after first-quarter action, the Tigers struggled offensively in the second quarter, only putting up four points, leaving them down 29-15 at the break.

After a static third quarter where both teams scored 10 points apiece, DeKalb pushed back hard in the fourth but Watertown was able to stay ahead from the foul line to secure the win.

Tanner Poss led DeKalb’s offense with game-high 17 points in the contest with Trey Jones breaking double digits for 12.

Also adding to the Tiger total tally were Marshal Evins with four points and Austin Johnson, Nathan Atkins and Dallas Cook, all scoring three points each.

Heath Price was Watertown’s top scorer with 15 points in the game.