Red Bay boys dominate competition to win fourth straight Franklin County Tournament championship

Jan 18

The reign of the Red Bay Tigers at the Franklin County Tournament continued on Saturday night as the RBHS varsity boys’ basketball team dispatched Phil Campbell en route to a fourth straight county tournament title.

Red Bay, winning its games in the tournament by an average of 38 points, dominated Tharptown 61-17 on Thursday night to advance to the championship on Saturday. Against the Bobcats, who just held on to beat Belgreen 46-45 in the semifinals the night before, the Tigers used their physicality and a pestering defense to rule over their county rivals 74-41.

“Anytime you play a tournament, especially in your county, you want to win it,” said RBHS head coach John Torisky, whose squad is ranked No. 6 in Class 2A in the latest Alabama Sports Writers Association poll. “You want to win it because of the rivalries and the tradition and things like that.

*Red Bay’s Jaxon Vinson battles Phil Campbell’s Bailey Nix for a rebound during the Franklin County Tournament championship game.*

“We’re getting close to the end of the (regular) season, so we wanted to win this and hopefully pump the guys up about playing later in the year once we get to the postseason,” Torisky added.

In the championship contest, Phil Campbell held Red Bay in check for about five minutes of game time before the Tigers found a firm foothold and really started to assert themselves. RBHS led 19-9 at the end of the first period, and despite allowing PCHS 18 points, outscored the Bobcats by eight points in the second to go into halftime up 45-27.

Red Bay turned up the heat even more to start the second half. The Tigers forced a lot of turnovers in the third quarter, allowing them to convert easy layups and uncontested jumpers in transition. Red Bay allowed just one point in third and increased its advantage by 18 points heading into the final period.

Up by more than 30 points in the fourth quarter, the Tigers were able to cruise during the last eight minutes to a 74-41 victory.

After beating Tharptown in the semifinals, Torisky told the Franklin Free Press his emphasis during the tournament was on defense. Against Phil Campbell, Torisky said his team didn’t quite receive full marks in that department, but he was proud of the effort and energy his players displayed.

“We knew that they (PCHS) played a tough game (Friday) night and their legs probably weren’t going to be as fresh as ours, so we wanted to play fast. I felt like in the first half Phil Campbell scored too many points, but I think with the pace we were playing at once we got in the third quarter they were tired and we were able to wear them out,” Torisky said. “The kids did what I asked them to do, and when they buy into the defensive side of the game our offense seems to get better because we get easier buckets.

“There are always things we can do better, and we’ll see that on film, but the intensity we’re playing with with what we’re trying to do is pretty good,” he added. “I’d say we’re probably a seven out of 10, but we need to be at 10 out of 10 at the end of the year. Right now we’re really focusing on a few things that we haven’t done much of this year, so for where we’re at I’m pretty happy.”

Following the championship game, the All-Tournament Team was announced and Tharptown High School principal Dr. Tyler Berryman distributed the hardware to the two teams.

The 2026 Franklin County All-Tournament Team selections were Tharptown’s Zach Riley, Vina’s Colton Davis, Belgreen’s Jake Dill, Phil Campbell’s Austin Elliott and Madden Welch, and Red Bay’s Bryant Harris, Jaxon Vinson, and Khalil Luster.

Luster, who scored 17 in Red Bay’s tournament semifinal and had a game-high 22 points in the championship, was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Elliott scored 11 and Welch scored six points for PCHS in the tourney final. Vinson finished with 16 points and Harris had eight for RBHS in the championship.