By Ross Johnson

Sports Writer

Troup High’s marathon began on a good note.

The Tigers defeated Lanett 60-50 Thursday night in the opening round of the Callaway Invitational, but it was just the beginning of a stretch of four games in five days.

With tonight’s regular-season home game against Greenville, followed by the tournament’s championship game Saturday night and a date with cross-town rival Callaway on Monday, the Tigers and head coach Thermond Billingslea will have plenty of time on the court before taking a break.

If each game during the stretch ends like the way it did Thursday, Billingslea will be happy.

The Tigers (3-3) led for the entire game, and never allowed Lanett to get within fewer than five points.

“All in all, I’m glad we made it through,” Billingslea said. “Lanett is a scrappy team.”

Troup led by as many as 10 points in the third quarter, but Lanett rallied and made it a five-point game with less than six minutes left.

Senior Jonathan Boswell capped a modest Troup run with a layup and foul shot to give the Tigers another 10-point lead with less than three minutes remaining.

Troup’s defense, which is largely the team’s strength this season, came up big.

Lanett’s shots were constantly blocked by the likes of Boswell and senior Kendrick Ward, and the Tigers didn’t allow much room for Lanett to get a clear shot on the basket.

While his team usually plays solid defense, Billingslea said it was good to get a win out of it.

“We played well enough on defense to win,” Billingslea said. “(Tuesday against Upson-Lee) we played well enough on defense to win, too. But we couldn’t get it done.”

The free-throw line was kind to the Tigers in the win.

Ward, who led the team with 19 points, was a perfect 6-of-6 from the line. Boswell scored 15 and was 4-of-4. Senior Jaquante Holloway had 15 points and was 5-of-8.

“One thing is we’ve shot free throws well all year,” Billingslea said. “There were some we needed in tight situations that we didn’t make, but we’ve shot free throws well all year.”

With plenty of opportunities to fine-tune the Tigers’ game in the next few days, Billingslea is looking forward to evaluating the next games in preparation for Region 2-AAA play, which begins Jan. 5.

“We’re going to polish up some things and look at some video,” Billingslea said. “We know some of the things we’re doing well and we want to get better.”