SUNSHINE &8212; On Tuesday night, as his Maplesville Red Devils handled the John Essex High School Hornets, Coach Eric Bailey may have stood up on the sideline twice, but for the majority of the game he was seated.

Friday night was the exact opposite as the Devils took on the Linden High School Patriots at Sunshine High School.

The Linden High School Patriots came on the court destined to dominate and dominate is precisely what they did.

Maplesville High School led for not even a second in the match-up.

Linden took the ball to start the game and Sean Richardson, a recent Vanderbilt University signee,

was able to get in a single dunk in the first period of play.

Despite numerous timeouts taken, obviously trying to motivate his team, Bailey&8217;s Devils just couldn&8217;t get going.

The Patriots seemed to have the rhythm from the start, playing almost effortlessly.

As the teams went into the locker rooms at the half, Linden had the advantage at 26-20.

The second half started about the same as the first. Maplesville was able to muster up 11 points as compared to Linden&8217;s 19. However, all that changed as the 4th approached.

Linden held the advantage going into the 4th period, 45-31.

Something seemed to suddenly awaken the sleeping Devils early in the last period. They began playing a quick-acting offense and stingy defense.

That offense proved to be no match for Linden&8217;s ever-weakening defense, as shown by a 28-point scoring drive for Maplesville in the 4th period.

And that&8217;s the honest truth.

All in all, the game came down to a single point.

With only 2.9 seconds left to play, Maplesville was awarded two free throws with the score at 60-58, one of which was successful.

Linden went on to win the game at 60-59.