night

The nearly perfect Calera Eagles (29-3) faced the equally talented G.W.Long

Rebels (25-6) in a game that would be decided in the back-court.

The Eagles' pressure would prove to much as they went on to win 65-47, ending the Rebels' great season.

The game started extremely close, as the two teams took turns scoring with the score 15-14 after the first.

The tempo and score would swing in the Eagles favor as they began to shut down Long's inside game.

Trailing 31-22 at the half, the Rebels came out with a full-court press, which caused turnovers and would lead to easy inside points.

After their initial 8-0 run, the Rebels would get out-scored 19-1 in the rest of the quarter.

The fourth would prove to be little more than a pretense as the Eagles' full court defense stepped up to cause even more turnovers. Calera was also able to shut down the Grubbs brothers who accounted for all 22 first half points, but couldn't score in double digits in the second .

"(The press) is just the way we play,"

Calera coach Robert Burdette said.

For the Rebels, senior Marcus Grubbs scored 15, while younger brother Fred tacked on 16.

But the story of the game was the play of sophomore forward George Drake who scored 26 and had two key blocked shots.