Cullman’s varsity boys weren’t about to be outpaced at home.

Not by Fort Payne. Not again. No way, no how.

And they weren’t.

The Bearcats gathered scoring contributions from all over the court on Friday night to defeat the Wildcats 92-79 in a fast-paced shootout to improve to 15-9 overall and 2-3 in area play this season.

Dylan Finch (18 points and 10 rebounds), Trey Tucker (17 points), Zane Manley (16 points), Jake McAfee (11 points), Jayden Sullins (10 points), Nick Williams (nine points) and Noah Bussman (eight points) threw together an offensive masterclass — Jimnie Chau Lee rounded out the team’s scoring with three points — as the Black and Gold avenged a 99-84 loss to Fort Payne from earlier in the season.

Coach Bobby Meyer was quite pleased with how his team responded in a big-game setting.

“We had a lot of guys contributing tonight,” he said. “Fort Payne is going to make you play a fast style, and we want to be quick to score against the style. Quick but not in a hurry. We were able to control that during this game. We had some foul trouble. Dylan was dominating before he had to sit. But we had kids that had good minutes off the bench for us. With this win, the area is still wide open. We just have to take care what we need to on our end, starting with Brewer on Tuesday.”

% Holly Pond 85, Vinemont 46: Jake Harris (18), Kyler Chaney (15), Zach Shaw (13) and Griffin Morris (12) packed the offensive punch for the Broncos in Friday night’s road and county victory versus the Red and White.

Holly Pond, which is ranked seventh in Class 3A, moved to 21-3 following the win.

Vinemont received 17 points from Katch Johnson and 11 from Jack Hill in the home loss.

% Hanceville 60, J.B. Pennington 30: RJ Evans racked up a double-double (11 points and 10 rebounds), and the Bulldogs relied on several scorers to salt away a home victory on Friday night.

Hanceville (13-6) also claimed multiple buckets from Damion Johnson (11), Brendan Flanigan (nine), Fred Ellis (nine) and Raiden Morgan (seven) in the blowout win.

% West Point 42, Jasper 38: The Warriors — behind Kolton Sapp’s 13 and Rylan Jones’ 10 — secured a tight road victory over the Vikings on Friday night.

West Point improved to 12-12 following the triumph.

% Hayden 71, West Point 60: Despite 30 points from Coby Sullins — he was 9 of 14 from beyond the arc — the Warriors weren’t able to clinch a regular season title on Thursday night.

West Point, which finished 4-2 in area play, was outscored 45-22 in the second half of the loss.

Kolton Sapp had a strong game as well for the Maroon and White with 19 points.  

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Varsity Girls

% Cullman 58, Fort Payne 53: Kennedy Wren hit a go-ahead layup with less than 30 seconds remaining, Hannah Hoffman netted three free throws down the stretch, and the Lady Bearcats held on for a fine area victory on Friday night.

Cullman, which improved to 15-9 and 4-1 in area play, racked up points from Anna Katherine Eastman (13), Anna Evans (11), Anna Grace Murphy (10), Hoffman (10), Wren (eight) and Alexandria Barker (six) on their home floor to survive a feisty team in the Lady Wildcats.

The Black and Gold led by six at halftime but trailed during the most of the fourth quarter before providing a strong run over the final three minutes.

Just like coach Josh Hembree drew it up … eventually.

“My pep talk at halftime obviously worked,” he said jokingly. “I talked about putting a nail in the coffin, and we came out, turned the ball over four times, and they took a six-point lead. So, obviously, I’m just not too good at that (laughs). In spite of that, the girls continued to play hard. We missed seven layups during the third quarter, and if you make some of those, it’s a different game … but we didn’t. What I did love, though, was the girls kept fighting and doing what it took to get this one. It’s a huge area win for us.”

Cullman will take on 6A No. 8 Brewer next Tuesday at home in a big-time area clash. A win would force a  regular season tie (5-1) and a coin flip to decide which program would host the area tournament.

% Holly Pond 63, Vinemont 30: MaKenna Folds collected a game-high 20 points, and the Lady Broncos delivered an excellent performance to claim a road win over their county opponent on Friday evening.

Holly Pond (5-14) also snared top contributions from Presley Marks (14), Elizabeth Miller (seven), Maddie Heatherly (six) and Kirsten Campbell (five) in the triumph.

Valarie Stacks paced Vinemont with 10 points, while Sadie Stanley was good for eight.

% Hanceville 57, J.B. Pennington 34: Kelly Pickett scored a game-high 20 points, and the Lady Bulldogs picked up their fifth straight victory on Friday night.

Malia Howell (12) and Kierra Merriweather (11) reached double figures for Hanceville (14-7) as well — and five other Purple and Gold players netted at least two points apiece in the home win.

% West Point 66, Jasper 12: The Lady Warriors had no trouble earning a road victory on Friday night.

Brooke Brownfield (16), Miriam Oldacre (14) and Olivia Ball (11) secured a good chunk of West Point’s offense, while Lexi Shadix and Kyler Hembree tacked on six apiece.

The Maroon and White is now 18-8 on the season.