Demopolis varsity boys head coach Jesse Bell says he preaches defense first. So far, his team appears to have been listening.

The Tigers put together a dominating performance on the defensive end Friday night against area rival Thomasville, doubling up the homestanding Tigers in a 52-26 win. The victory gives Demopolis a 2-1 record on the season and starts the Tigers at 1-0 in 4A Area 5 play.

“Defensively, I’m happy,” says Bell. “If you’re going to win any championship, any game, you’ve got to have great defense.”

After holding Thomasville to 26, the Tiger defense has allowed an average of only 38.3 points a game. But Bell says that in many of the Tigers upcoming games, even that won’t be enough unless the Tigers continue to improve.

“We’re entering the meat of our schedule,” he says. “Overall, we’re getting better each game, but we’ve got to continue to work. We’ve got to start playing better on the offensive end…we’ve got to be able to score on our easy baskets. We need to cut down on our turnovers and do a better job of blocking out…there’s a lot of little things we could do better. That’ll come in time.”

Bell says his team could have played better half-court offense in the win over Thomasville, but it made no difference in the outcome as Demopolis seized control of the game from the beginning. Behind a game-high 12 points from Dontrell Miller, the Tigers raced to a 34-12 halftime lead and cruised to the 26-point win.

Joining Miller in double figures for Demopolis were Casey Cantey with 11 points and Patrick Robertson with 10. Willie Blount added 5, Brian Taylor, Collins Espy, and MacArthur Johnson chipped in 4, and Sandy Taylor finished with 2.

Demopolis will go on the road again Tuesday to face Francis Marion, who defeated the Tigers 45-35 in Demopolis’s season-opener Nov. 35.

DMS boys 47, Martin Middle 39

The Demopolis Middle School boys have gotten off to a 6-1 start to the 2005 season, most recently defeating Martin Middle School by eight on Dec. 8.

Leading the DMS effort was Fred Irby, who scored 15 points. Jeremy Wallace finished with 10 points, Kisandre Adams with 8, Anthony Hardy with 6, and Jalen Armstead, Tremaine Irby, and Trey Jones with 2.

DMS girls 29, Martin Middle 26

The Demopolis Middle girls rebounded from a tough 1-4 start to get their second win against Martin Middle.

Kierra Carter scored 11 points to lead the Lady Tigers. Cierra Howard’s 9, Shanequa Aldridge’s 5, and LaKedra Smith’s 4 rounded out the scoring.