Athens boys basketball team will begin area play a day earlier than previously scheduled, but will do so with plenty of momentum.

After a slow start, the Golden Eagles have won five of their last six games and host their first area matchup tonight against Muscle Shoals. The game was previously schedule for Dec. 6, but was moved because of the threat of winter weather.

Athens (9-9, 0-1) picked up where they left off in 2016 with a 58-49 victory Tuesday over West Limestone. It was their second victory over the fourth-ranked team in Class 4A in the last two weeks. The Golden Eagles beat West 64-52 on Dec. 20.

“It was kind of a sluggish game because neither team was back in school yet,” said Athens head coach Stace Tedford. “We wanted to hold them under 50 points and we did that. It was a good defensive effort from our guys.”

The 58 points scored and 107 total points on Tuesday were season lows for Athens, which improved to 9-9 with the win. John Williams led the team with 14 points, followed by 11 from his brother, Tyler. Marquez Bone added nine points.

Matt Bozeman and Reed Blankenship each scored 12 points for West Limestone.

Sandwiched in between the West Limestone games was the 16-team Bracy Invitational Tournament, where Athens finished third, going 3-1. The tournament was held at Deshler High School, Dec. 27-29.

Athens began the tournament with a win over 2015-16 state runners-up Baldwyn (Mississippi), then defeated Russellville to advance to the semifinals. The Golden Eagles lost to host Deshler, but defeated Northridge in the consolidation game to finish third.

The successful tournament run along with a pair of wins over West allowed Athens to pick up five victories in just over two weeks. Since losing a triple-overtime game against Hartselle on Dec. 13, Athens won six of their last eight games and have momentum going into the heart of area play.

Beginning tonight they will play three area games in the span of a week. AHS has only played one area game — an 84-71 overtime loss at Hazel Green. That defeat was one of four overtime games for Athens during the first half of the season.

“I told our guys, ‘If we have a few things go our way, we could easily by 15-3 instead of 9 and 9,’” Tedford said. “The next few weeks are crucial.”

The Golden Eagles have their work cut out for them in an extremely tough area featuring last year’s state runner-up Muscle Shoals, and Hazel Green, which dropped down from Class 7A where it advanced to the Northwest Regional the past two seasons.

And there is Florence, which recently won the Bracy Invitational and is the presumed favorite to win the area.

Athens and Muscle Shoals tip off tonight with a varsity girls game getting things underway at 6.