By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

It’s tip time for the Troup Tigers, who will open a new season with a game at Opelika on Monday.

Troup tuned up for the season by beating Heard County 45-36 on Thursday, with seniors Quevo McFarland and Brandon Smith leading the way with 16 and 11 points, respectively.

“We tried to get a lot of young guys in, and it’s good experience for them,” Troup head coach Blake Craft said.

Troup played that game short-handed, with many of the key players still busy with football.

That’ll be the case again on Monday, since the football team is still alive after beating Pickens County on Friday night.

For the players who will be on the court on Monday, Craft believes the experience of playing a quality team like Opelika will be beneficial.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Craft said. “I wanted to schedule a good hard one, so I want to see what they can do. I want to see how they face adversity. No one cares about the record early in the year. We want to be playing great in January and February.”

Troup’s girls’ team, which lost to Heard County, won’t play its regular-season opener until Nov. 27 when it hosts McIntosh.

Troup is without some injured players, and coach Carla Thornton said she’s not rushing them.

“We’re two weeks out,” Thornton said. “If they can come back, good, but we want them healthy when they do come back. They’re assistant coaches right now.”