Russell County boys’ basketball coach William Carson spelled it out for his team before the season even began.

Want respect? Earn it.

Want success? Earn it.

Carson’s simple two-word mantra was emblazoned on the back of every Lakers warm-up shirt – in black and white, naturally – on Thursday at E.A. Diddle Arena before Russell County’s Region 4 tournament first-round matchup against Franklin-Simpson.

The Lakers put Carson’s words into practice against the Wildcats to earn something else – a spot in Monday’s regional semifinals against Warren Central by winning a 53-38 decision over Franklin-Simpson.

“The back of our warm-ups say, ‘Earn it.’ I told them from the beginning of the year, whether that’s playing time or respect, we’re going to have to earn it,” Carson said.

Russell County (13-20) churned up the Wildcats in the fourth quarter to break open what had been a close game. The Lakers hit their first five shots in the fourth while Franklin-Simpson (7-23) missed on its first 10 attempts. Leading 35-31 heading into the final eight minutes, Russell County built that advantage to 49-34 before the Wildcats’ Alex Gilbert finally connected on a layup for his team’s first field goal in six minutes.

Much of the Lakers’ success came by breaking Franklin-Simpson’s press. Hoping to speed up the tempo and force the action, Wildcats coach Dee Spencer had his team hounding Russell County all night. That helped force 14 turnovers, but also gave the Lakers plenty of easy chances. Combined with a dominating rebounding edge (37-21), those high-percentage shots helped Russell County shoot 50 percent (20-of-40) while the Wildcats struggled to a 14-of-46 (30.4 percent) effort.

“I thought we did a good job in the first half – we turned them over eight times in the first half, which was at our pace,” Spencer said. “We just wanted to speed the game up. We wanted to make sure we ran those guys off the 3-point line. Anytime you press, you know you’re going to give up a couple easy buckets. We just didn’t realize we’d give up that many.”

Russell County point guard Tate Richardson, who finished with seven assists and six turnovers, said the wider dimensions at Diddle helped beat that pressure.

“The bigger floor helps – we get better spacing with the bigger floor,” Richardson said. “We just have to stay calm and just another game.”

The Lakers worked to keep the Wildcats from getting out and running, opening the game with a box-and-1 with a chaser on Franklin-Simpson guard Dee Ragland. Russell County eventually scrapped that defense when the Wildcats’ Andreyous Miller connected on back-to-back 3-pointers late in the first quarter, but the Lakers stayed in a zone nearly the entire night.

“Our whole team knew they weren’t the best shooters in the world, and all we had to do was box out and rebound,” Russell County forward Hayes Coffey said, “and just get them to force shots that they weren’t comfortable taking, and we did that the entire game and held them to 38 points. Our defense really worked.”

Franklin-Simpson stayed in it, trailing just 26-24 at halftime and by four heading into the fourth quarter before the shots stopped falling.

“Not nearly as bad as it has been,” Spencer said of the scoring drought. “It’s part of the game. I mean, you make some and you miss some. The guys played hard. It just wasn’t our night.”

Brayton Scales led the Lakers with 17 points and Coffey added 10.

Gilbert had 12 points and Miller finished with 10 for the Wildcats.

Franklin-Simpson 13 11 7 7 – 38

Russell County 10 16 9 18 – 53

RC – Scales 17, Coffey 10, Miller 9, Richardson 6, Walters 5, Clark 3, Hadley 2.

FS – Gilbert 12, Miller 10, Covington 6, Ragland 3, Thompson 3, Gooch 2, Harris 2.