Gaylesville head basketball coach Shannon Shaw had the right idea, but he had too much time on his hands to perfect his plan.

Shaw and his homestanding Gaylesville Trojans Saturday night employed a deliberate style against Class 1A, Area 10 neighbor Cedar Bluff, and it worked into the third quarter before the No. 6 ranked Tigers (8-0, 4-0) finally warmed up to the task and cruised to a 76-53 victory.

Maddrick Long led Cedar Bluff with 30 points, while Josh Moten added 14 and Roger Jones nine.

Scott Lay scored 15 points for Gaylesville, followed by Casey Blankenship with 13 and Chris Steele with 12.

The Trojans (0-7, 0-4) found themselves down by 10 points late in the first stanza but mounted a rally to trail 17-13 at the break.

Cedar Bluff again pushed to a 10-point lead in the early portion of the second quarter only to have Gaylesville again answer the challenge and cut the deficit to 31-28 by halftime with Lay and Steele leading the Trojans by coming for 20 of their points and Long (13 first-half points) doing the honors for the Tigers.

Gaylesville continued its momentum into the third quarter and gained its first lead of the game at 32-31 on a jumper by Casey Blankenship.

But a Jones lay-up restored the Bluff lead at 35-34, and Long’s basket with 1:10 remaining in the quarter put the visitors up 51-44.

The Cedar Bluff defense stepped up to finish off the Trojans in the final eight minutes, as the Tigers held the hosts scoreless to secure the win