Pike County’s struggles continued Tuesday night, as the Bulldogs fell to Andalusia 67-42.

Pike County fell behind 18-4 by the end of the first quarter, and was never able to recover.

“It was my fault,” said head coach William Moguel. “We’re not a very mentally tough basketball right now. We’re not doing the little things we’re supposed to be doing, and that’s my responsibility. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Andalusia was able to pound PCHS around the basket, scoring the majority of its field goals inside the paint while also maintaining an advantage in free throws attempted.

“They were more physical than us,” Moguel said. “Our whole game plan was to pack it in, and I knew that’s what they were going to do. It all goes back not doing the little things like not blocking out, not playing good defense and not moving our feet. We had a lot of fouls tonight. A lot of fouls mean you’re doing a lot of reaching and you’re not playing defense with your feet.”

Pike County trailed 35-17 at the half and 52-26 at the start of the fourth quarter before outscoring Andalusia by one in the fourth.

Kendrick Jackson led PCHS with 15 points.

Despite the slight progress at the end of the game, Moguel said he knows what he has to do in order to help the team have success.

“I’ve got to do a better job of getting across what I want done to these young men, and we’re going to do that,” Moguel said. “Everybody knows we’ve had a tough schedule so far, and that’s not making any excuses because we’ve got to step up to the plate also.”

While the varsity boys had their struggles, the varsity girls team fared just as badly against Andalusia, falling 42-22.

“Coming in to this ball game, I knew they were going to be more athletic than us, much like every team that we’ve faced,” said head coach Tellis Stone.

“When you’re going against teams like that, the only way you are going to have chance is to outhustle them. But, starting out the game tonight, we didn’t do any of that. It was like they were asleep. We couldn’t get the girls to move and hustle.”

Andalusia started the game on a 20-0 run and led 26-4 at the half.

PCHS made a bit of a run in the second half, eventually cutting the final deficit to 20 points at 42-22.

“We beat them in the third quarter and we had held them to 14 points in the second half through most of the fourth quarter,” Stone said. “The only way we’re going to get a win is by putting together four quarters where we outhustle and outrebound our opponents.”

Tierra Hall led the second half rally, scoring all 14 of her points in the second half and 14 of Pike County’s 18 points.

“She’s one of our better players,” Stone said. “The team feeds off of her. If she goes out sluggish, they’ll go out sluggish. She’s one of the ones we talked to at halftime. I got in her ear a little bit, and she responded in the second half.”

The news was not all bad for Pike County Tuesday, however.

The junior varsity boys defeated Andalusia 34-31 in overtime.

Pike County trailed 31-28 with less than a minute to go in overtime when Matthew Lucas hit a 3-pointer to tie the game and eventually send it into overtime.

Andalusia did not score in the extra session, while Pike County got a made free throw from Marlon Meadows and a lay-up from Quinton Arnold to pick up the win.

The Bulldogs will be in action again on Thursday, on the road against Bullock County.