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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HELENA – The Helena Huskies’ high-powered offense helped them earn a 65-51 win in their area play opener against the Briarwood Christian Lions on Tuesday, Jan. 9 at Helena High School.

Josh Williams started his solid shooting night early with six points in the first quarter. His Huskies teammate Drew Davis added four points to help Helena score 17 points in the opening period.

Briarwood’s Drew Mears and Thomas Loudon each scored a three-pointer for the Lions in the first, but the Huskies still led 17-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Williams and Davis continued to dictate the tempo for the Huskies and combined for nine of their team’s 10 second-quarter points.

Briarwood, however, fought back with a 12-point quarter led by five points from Eli Stubbs, and that improved offensive effort cut the deficit to just seven points going into halftime.

Now with a 27-20 lead at the start of the third quarter, Helena came out of the gate firing as six different Huskies found the bottom of the net, including six more points from Davis to take him into double figures and four from Joseph King.

That gave Helena a double-digit advantage after it outscored Briarwood by six in the third.

The third quarter gave way to an even more high-scoring fourth quarter where the teams combined for 39 points.

The Lions and Huskies went basket-for-basket in the final eight minutes as Helena only outscored Briarwood 20-19.

However, the even nature of the fourth quarter meant that the Lions were unable to cut into the Huskies’ lead even with a 19-point final period, and Helena walked away with the 14-point win.

Williams finished tied for the game-high with 19 points, while Drew Davis ended the night with 18 points for the Huskies. King joined them in double-figures with 10 points, eight of which came in the second half.

In addition, Ian Johnigan had seven points and Denton McDonald scored six points.

As for Briarwood, Stubbs scored 19 points off five three-pointers, including three in the fourth quarter alone. Mears and Loudon scored nine points apiece.

Helena will take on Pelham in a rivalry game on Friday, Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at Helena High School. Briarwood will take on Indian Springs in a battle of Cahaba Valley Road teams on Thursday, Jan. 11 at 7:30 p.m.