MONTGOMERY &8212; In the battle of two of the state&8217;s boys 1A top 10 teams, No. 5 ranked Sunshine Tigers and No. 1 ranked St Jude Pirates, the Tigers came out on the short end, losing 74-63 in the state&8217;s regional finals. It was St Jude that knocked Sunshine out of last year&8217;s tournament, where they met in the semi-finals.

This game was much closer than the scoring outcome of the game, as the Tigers matched up well against the top-ranked Pirates.

They played to a 32-28 half time score.

The Tigers got tough in the third stanza in the physical contest, but couldn&8217;t gain any ground on the Pirates, as both teams played to a 12-12 draw in the quarter. St Jude went on to out score Sunshine 14-4 the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, which the Tigers could never recover. They battled to keep the game close, but could only come within as six points.

Junior Damekis Lewis led all scorers with 24 points, including four three-pointers. Senior Marcus Lee chipped in 13.

&8212; James Gilmore