Coach Randy Jones and the West Point bench and student section get pumped as the Warriors close in on a win during the 2015-16 season.

WEST POINT — Pretty, ugly or pretty ugly, West Point’s boys were happy to take a win however they could get it Friday night.

With said win, a spirited 55-51 comeback over Russellville, the Warriors will happily take the regular season Class 5A, Area 14 championship, too.

Coach Randy Jones’ squad started hot, slipped up in the second quarter and shut down the Golden Tigers offensively in the fourth to wrap up the top seed and hosting rights for next month’s area tournament. Though the Maroon and White (11-10, 5-0) still have an area game left against Lawrence County, Friday’s victory ensured they’ll finish with no more than one area loss.

Everybody else has at least two.

“That’s huge. That was one of our big goals before we started this season was to host the area tournament here,” Jones said. “These guys have worked their tail off. Probably nobody would’ve thought they’d do it starting 1-6, but they’ve battled.

“That’s the type of kids they are.”

West Point had no choice but to battle after opening the second quarter on the wrong end of an 18-2 run. Up 16-10 at the end of the first, the Warriors were suddenly down 28-18 and in desperate need of a spark.

It finally came in the fourth quarter — offensively and defensively.

Andrew Shaw, Seth Parker, Alex Hernandez and Rusk took care of the former, and Kobe Smith handled the latter as the home team outscored Russellville 21-9 over the final eight minutes.

Avery Sears sparked the Golden Tigers’ early turnaround with 12 points by halftime and ended with 21. Rusk had no problem pointing fingers at who was responsible for allowing the majority of that production.

“I was guarding 3 the first half, he scored a lot,” Rusk said of Spears. “Kobe started guarding 3 the second half, it slowed him down. So that helped.”

Rusk also comically took the self-deprecation route on his closing stretch at the free throw line. After sinking a pair of attempts to even the score at 51-51, the senior just avoided an air ball on his next trip before redeeming himself with the make that gave the Warriors the lead for good.

After splits by Hernandez and Rusk kept Russellville within a score, Rusk sank 1 of 2 from the charity stripe to ice the outcome with 2.3 seconds left.

West Point capped off the evening 16 of 28 from the gimme distance. Rusk was 10 of 16 as part of a 21-point, eight-rebound performance.

“I missed a lot that could’ve put it away,” the guard said with a laugh. “But we got the ones that we needed, and we got the stops when we needed them.”

Hernandez scrapped inside for 14 points, while Parker rounded up eight to go with six boards and an assortment of swats. Shaw recorded all six of his points in the decisive stanza.

The Warriors eked out the triumph despite sporting a less-than-stellar 3-of-17 showing from 3-point range.

“It definitely was not one of our best shooting nights,” Jones said. “But I’ve told the guys all year, ‘You play good defense, you get a chance to win the ballgame.’ I thought that was the difference in the fourth quarter.”

The Maroon and White will now turn their attention to next week’s Cullman County Basketball Tournament. Their bid for the program’s first county title since 2012 will begin against Good Hope Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Wallace State’s Tom Drake Coliseum.

As pumped as the Warriors were Friday night, Jones doesn’t want the regular season area title to be their last hurrah.

“You’ve got the county tournament coming up, area tournaments coming up, sub-regionals,” he said. “This was exciting, but down the road there can be even more exciting games than this one.”

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Varsity Girls

Russellville 65, West Point 31

Bailee Yearwood scored six points, and Tess Hembree and Lexi Shadix each had four in a tough area loss for the Lady Warriors.

West Point, which remained winless in area play, trailed 16-4, 30-19 and 54-25 at the quarter breaks.

Madison Roberts and Mackenzie Roberts both added four points for the Warriors, who will get going at the county tournament next Tuesday at 6:15 against Cold Springs.