Tanner's Malik Atkins drives to the basket against Colbert County Tuesday night. Atkins scored 15 points in the Rattlers' 58-43 win.

Tanner didn’t make things easy on itself Tuesday night against Colbert County. But strong defense and the play of J.J. Jones was enough to see the Rattlers take a 58-43 win and move to 2-0 in Class 2A, Area 16 play.

Jones scored 23 points, and Tanner pulled away in the second half despite an atrocious 9 of 26 performance at the free-throw line.

“We never could get the ball to go through the hole at the free-throw line,” Tanner coach Chris Whitt said. “And it’s not because we don’t shoot them. We shoot them in practice nonstop. It’s just one of those mind things. You’ve got to be able to hit free throws. You’re not going to win many big games shooting as badly as we did.”

Tanner’s defense was solid the entire game, holding the athletic Indians to no more than 12 points in each quarter. However, the Rattlers couldn’t get much offense in a first half, which was dominated by missed shots and turnovers.

Tanner’s Jabari Brown hit a shot in the final seconds of the second quarter to give the Rattlers a 23-21 lead at halftime.

The Rattlers would then open the third quarter on a 12-0 run to go up 35-21. They were never seriously threatened again. Colbert County couldn’t cut Tanner’s lead to fewer than eight points the rest of the game.

Tanner was able to pound the ball inside with Jones having a height advantage over the Colbert County players. Jones had seven of the 12 points during the third-quarter run, with all of the baskets being layups inside. He also made a free throw to convert a 3-point play, which closed the run.

“He (Jones) has really done well our first three games,” Whitt said. “We expect him to. I’d be disappointed if he wasn’t.”

In addition to Jones’ 23 points, Malik Atkins scored 15 and Brown had 11 for the Rattlers. Colbert County was led by JaJuan Rowell with 23 points.

While many teams play several games early in the season to tune up for area play, Tanner (3-0) has jumped right into area play. After opening its season with a non-area victory over Clements, Tanner’s next four games are area games.

The Rattlers defeated Tharptown and Colbert County, and now play at Hatton Friday before traveling to play Sheffield next Tuesday.

“It’s not going to be an easy road,” Whitt said. “We’re starting the season off pretty tough.”

Girls

Tanner 62, Colbert County 25

A first-half offensive explosion was all Tanner needed Tuesday as the Rattlers started strong and raced away for a 37-point victory over Colbert County.

Tanner jumped out to a 20-4 lead over the Indians after one quarter and kept the pressure up in the second quarter, scoring 24 more points to take a 44-16 halftime lead.

The scoring slowed down in the second half, but Tanner was still able to expand its lead. The fourth quarter was played with a running clock because the Rattlers had more than a 30-point lead the entire quarter.

Amiya Redus led Tanner with 19 points, while Shauna Fletcher and Shakiera Hisbon each scored 10 for the Rattlers. Aubrey Oliver and Miracle Scott each tallied nine points.

Colbert County was led by Keeara Ricks, who scored 17 points.