Prattville’s Justin Thomas drives to the basket during the Lions’ win over Lanier at Robert E. Lee on Monday. (Staff Photo)

Staff Report
(Feb. 9, 2010)

Lucky, good… Justin Thomas was both Monday.

The sophomore enjoyed the good fortune of a couple of non-routine shots that went in as part of a big night for the Prattville Lions, who won their first area tournament title in 12 years with a comfortable 76-63 win over Sidney Lanier in the Class 6A, Area 6 tourney at Robert E. Lee.

“We’ve worked hard to get to this point,” Thomas said. “It’s about getting to another level and winning the area is part of that.”

The Lions last area tournament title came in 1998. Since then, the school’s basketball program has taken a back seat to the more successful football and baseball programs, which have consistently played for state championships.

“There has always been talent here,” Prattville coach Xavier Robinson said. “We lost to Lee last year in the area tournament and that got us motivated for this year. We were close to being the host of the area this year but we still reached our first goal.”

The Lions led for the much of the game and were challenged briefly late in the third period when Lanier cut into a 14-point lead, pulling to within four points at 42-38.

But Thomas hit a couple of key buckets including a 3-pointer to give Prattville a double-digit lead again at 51-39. He finished with 22 points.

“I just had a good feeling about it,” he said. “We wanted it bad and we knew we had to play hard to win.”

Thomas had two improbable shots to fall with the first coming at the end of the initial period when he hit a desperation 3-pointer.

But the shot of the night came in the fourth quarter when sitting on his backside under the basket, Thomas threw up a shot that hit high off the glass and went in.

“I didn’t want to be called for traveling so I just threw it up,” Thomas explained. “I was surprised it went in.”

When Thomas wasn’t shooting trick shots, forward Dionte Ferguson was doing the damage inside. He finished with a team-high 24 points and 14 rebounds. He was named the tournament MVP.

“It is a great feeling to know that we finally got over the hump,” Ferguson said. “It means a lot for us to win. We have come close the last couple of years and sometimes we have played not to lose. But we felt confident that we could win even though Lanier has been the team to beat in this tournament lately.”

Robinson, a protégé of Lanier coach Floyd Mathews, believes the Lions may see the Poets again should the two team make it to the Central Regional.

“We’ve got work to do first in the subs but Lanier has really improved,” said Robinson, who was an assistant to Mathews at Lanier prior to taking the job at Prattville.

“You can always expect Coach Mathews to have his team prepared and go after you defensively. They are a young team but very talented.”

Lanier’s Keith Braswell led all scorers with 25 points. The Poets (13-16) will travel to Wetumpka on Friday for the sub-regional round.

Prattville (18-7) will play host to Auburn on Friday. It will be the first time the Lions have been host to a sub-regional game since 1998.