After a 67-42 loss to Selma to open region play last Friday night, the Tigers have been back at work this week attempting to find their rhythm.

“As of right now, we have to come together,” Anthony Hardy said. “It’s just us gelling together to be one.”

That sentiment seems to be a popular one throughout the Demopolis roster as the team has stumbled out to a 2-2 start heading into Friday night’s game against region foe Carver.

“That’s just our first region game,” Jonathan Marshall said of the Selma loss. “We’re going to have to put that behind us and still remember what happened.”

According to head coach Jesse Bell, a big part of Demopolis’ chemistry concerns can be credited to the fact that the team has yet to identify its leaders.

“They still haven’t emerged. They’re not there yet,” Bell said.

Bell said the Tigers’ early struggles are in no way a reflection of the talent on the team, but rather are indicative of the other issues.

“We’ve just got to make them play our brand of basketball. We cant run up and down the floor with them,” Bell said of facing squads such as Selma and Carver in region play. “We didn’t buy into that against Selma. If we translate it from practice to game situations, we’ll be much better. We can be a preetty good basketball team and compete, but we’re not there yet.”

Bell said his team’s early mistakes are correctable and the end product will be much more successful once his player’s develop the experience other teams in the region already have.

“We’re going to keep working hard in practice. We’re going ot progress. It’s going to take time though,” Bell said.

“All in all, I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, but we’ve got good things ahead. If we come together as a team, we’ll be okay.”