ROBERTSDALE, Alabama—Spanish Fort opened their basketball season with a 53-42 road win at Robertsdale Thursday night.

The Golden Bears had trailed by 10 points midway into the final period but rallied back to within three with about three minutes to go. The Toros then went into a clock-killing spread with good passing and shot selection to rebuild the lead down the stretch.

Tied 8-8 after the first eight minutes, Reagan Eubanks led the Toros with 12 points in the second quarter to help give SF a 23-16 edge at the half. Eubanks, a senior guard, scored 24 overall. Teammates Grant Schumacher added eight in the last period and finished with a double-double 14 points and 10 rebounds, Quinn Atkinson had six, Carter Jones five and Trent Strickland four. The Bears were led by junior Rashad Hobby who had 11 points, Lonnie Dailey with nine, Nick Raspa with seven, Alphonso Stevens' six, Josh Laird with five and Donnie Casey who added four.

"The kids played hard, they battled and found a way to win the game. Robertsdale always makes it tough here in their gym. They make it loud, give it an exciting atmosphere and a lot like a big high school basketball environment should be. But we responded well and I felt like our defensive pressure forced a few turnovers and we took advantage when we could to capitalize offensively. We were able to make some pretty good shots pretty often but didn't make as many as we would like. But most of all we have to improve on our foul shooting. We're a little rusty being our first game and running a different line up this year, we expect to make a few mistakes. So we still have work to do, but I'm really proud of the effort and it always feels good to get a win out of here. We're still missing four on our football team so our young guys really stepped up tonight."

Caleb Hall, John Wesley Williamson, Chason Milner and Sammie Tolbert will join the team after football season.

RHS head coach Marshal Davis said his team missed too many free throws.

 "We missed 16 free throws and that's on me. We need to work on that more. I need to emphasize the importance of it more so they practice it whenever they can. We need to do a better job of staying out of foul trouble. Make sure of layups and just a lot of little things that add up but can be fixed.

But I'm proud of the enthusiasm and I think the kids played hard. We just got to be more disciplined about it and not get out of control out there when things don't go our way.

SF (1-0) host Pensacola Catholic Monday and travels to Fairhope Tuesday night. RHS (1-3) will travel to take part in a tournament at Defuniak Springs before Thanksgiving.