Masyn Hill fires a shot for the Vikings. (Post Photo by Rickey Clardy)
By RICKEY CLARDY
Sports Writer
CHAPEL HILL — The Community Vikings had only managed 12 points and were down by 11 in the third quarter against the Forrest Rockets, but the Vikings turned the game around with a 12-0 run to take the lead and Community used a big offensive fourth quarter to defeat the Rockets 46-37 in a District 9-2A basketball contest Tuesday night.
“We told them at halftime it was going to come down to getting stops,” Coach Hunter Ferrell of the Vikings said. “It wasn’t going to be making shots that was going to get us the win, it was going to be stopping them from making shots.”
Andrew Myers scored seven points as Forrest (5-15, 0-3) took the upper hand and scored the final seven points of the first quarter to take a 14-6 lead.
With foul trouble plaguing Community (13-7, 2-2), the offensive woes continued for the Vikings in the second quarter.
But the Rockets cooled down and had trouble finding the basket as the quarter resembled more of a pitcher’s duel.
There were only six points scored as the Vikings outscored the Rockets 4-2 to trim the Forrest advantage to 16-10 at the intermission.
Houston Matlock and Myers combined for the first five points of the third quarter as the Rockets took their biggest lead at 21-10 with 6:55 left.
The Rockets still led 23-12 with 5:44 remaining before the Vikings rose out of the ashes.
With their defensive pressure intensifying, the Vikings forced Rocket turnovers which turned into Community points as the Vikings started cutting the Forrest lead.
After a scrum which resulted in two Rocket technical fouls, Andrew Tocchio connected on three free throws to give the Vikings a 24-23 advantage and their first lead since the opening quarter.
The game was tied 24-24 heading to the final quarter.
The lid came off the rim for the Vikings in the quarter as Community started to pull away.
Tocchio had seven points and Lawwell added five as the Vikings broke out of a 26-26 tie with an 11-0 run to take a 37-26 lead with 3:49 left.
Josiah Willis and Josh Doud had four points each as the Rockets pulled within seven before the Vikings finished with the 9-point win.
Tocchio had 13 points while Williams added 11 to lead the Vikings.
Myers led the Rockets with 12 points.
The Vikings were 14-of-22 at the free throw line while the Rockets were 6-of-12.
“We knew coming in every district road game is a tough one,” Ferrell said. “Then obviously there’s a lot of distractions that come with this one, but for the most part, in the second half we made the plays that we needed to make.”
“We get down double-digits in the second half and it could be easy to quit and it could be easy to just feel like it’s not our night, but you’ve got guys like Johnathan Lawwell, Jaxson Williams, and Josh Powers who care so much about winning and it showed that in the way they played,” Ferrell added.
Community is scheduled to host Richland in a non-district game Friday night while Forrest will host Loretto in a district contest on Thursday.
Community 6 4 14 22 — 46
Forrest 14 2 8 13 — 37
Community: Andrew Tocchio 13, Jaxson Williams 11, Johnathan Lawwell 9, Josh Powers 5, Charlie Haskins 4, Logan Reed 4, Masyn Hill, Zach Leathers, Karson Boyce, Maddux Thompson.
Forrest: Andrew Myers 12, Jon Hightower 6, Houston Matlock 6, Josh Daud 4, Elija Leverette 2, Josiah Willis 4, Rylan Anderson 3, Alex Evans, Drew Bailey.
3-Point goals: Community: (2): Tocchio 2; Forrest (1): Anderson.
Halftime score: Forrest 16, Community 10.