Elkmont and Carbon Hill players gather under the basket in an effort to get a rebound in Tuesday's subregional game. Elkmont defeated Carbon Hill 51-34 to advance to the Northwest Regional tournament in Hanceville.

A strong defensive effort and a flurry of late free throws lifted Elkmont to a 51-34 win over Carbon Hill Tuesday in the Northwest subregional.

The win, in front of a roaring crowd at the Elkmont gymnasium, punched the Red Devils’ ticket to the Northwest Regional tournament in Hanceville.

Elkmont coach Dennis Black and his players were ecstatic about the win.

“We’re going to enjoy the next 24 hours and let the kids enjoy this moment,” Black said. “We haven’t looked that far ahead (to Hanceville) yet.”

Carbon Hill hit a 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter to tie the score at 10, but the Red Devils scored the first six points of the second quarter on 3-pointers by Preston Robinson and Layton Smith and didn’t trail the rest of the game.

Robinson later converted a 3-point play to push the Red Devils’ lead to 20-14 and Elkmont took at 24-17 lead into halftime.

Black said the team didn’t dwell on its halftime lead and was focused on not allowing Carbon Hill’s post player Braden Wright to get to the basket.

“We were going to just play 16 minutes at a time and focus on getting the big guy (Wright) away from the goal and getting our shooters to the goal,” Black said.

Patrick Jobman nailed a 3-pointer to increase Elkmont’s lead to 29-17 early in the third quarter and Elkmont took a 34-25 lead into the final period.

The Bulldogs scored the first points of the fourth quarter to cut the lead to seven points, but Ben Hobbs hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead back out to 10 points, at 37-27. That’s where it stayed until the final three minutes, when the game slowed to a crawl as the Red Devils made a parade to the free throw line.

Elkmont made 14 free throws in the final three minutes to extend the lead, as Carbon Hill could only answer with seven points of its own.

For the game, Elkmont was 19-23 from the free throw line, with Davis Hobbs hitting 11-14. Carbon Hill was just 9-12 from the line.

Hobbs was Elkmont’s leading scorer with 14 points while Robinson scored nine points. Wright and Jon Michael Madison both had 10 points for Carbon Hill.

Elkmont (14-16) will take on Lauderdale County at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the Northwest Regional at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville.