Late free throws lift Trojans past Gibson County, 70-64

After an emotional loss against rival Dyer County on Tuesday, the Trojan basketball team looked to get back on the winning track on Friday when Gibson County made a visit to DHS for a district encounter.

The Pioneers didn't go down easy, but when the final whistle blew the Trojans did what it took to earn the victory, edging out the visitors, 70-64.

"Give Gibson County credit, they are a better basketball team than their record indicates and I think you saw that tonight," said Trojan skipper Blaine Mahaffey. "We had to find a way to win and by making our free throws down the stretch that's what we did."

Dyersburg (7-8, 3-4) connected on 27-of-62 attempts from the field, one shot better than the visitors who finished 26-of-63. The difference down the stretch came at the charity stripe where Dyersburg was 15-of-19, including eight straight from Kody Howard in the fourth quarter that sealed the district win for the Trojans.

Howard paced four Trojans in double figures with 17, followed by Marcus Nelson with 16, Sam Crocker had 13 and Winn Decker finished with a double double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Gibson County (5-10, 0-7) took a 19-16 lead at the end of the opening quarter as Dyersburg struggled to get into any type of offensive rhythm.

The Trojans continued to trail in the second period before a 3-point play from Decker knotted the contest at 29-29 with two minutes left in the half. Dyersburg led at the break, 33-31.

"We talked about correcting some things that we needed to fix. I could tell we were a step slower tonight than usual, but I thought we played hard in the second half and started to get back to doing what we do," said Mahaffey.

After surrendering the lead near the end of the first half, the Pioneers came out in the second half determined to stay in the game. Neither squad was able to gain much of an advantage in the third period, as the Pioneers actually outscored the Trojans by a basket to knot the game at 47-47 headed to the fourth and final period.

After Crocker scored from the paint to knot the game at 50-50 with six minutes to play, Dyersburg's Marcus Nelson went to work under the basket. Nelson had back-to-back baskets in the middle of the period to lift the Trojans to a 58-54 advantage before a 3-point play from the Pioneers cut the lead to 58-57 with 2:30 left on the clock.

Down the stretch, Howard stepped to the line and calmly drained free throw after free throw as Dyersburg held on to win, 70-64.

"Kody was huge for us at the line there in the fourth quarter and that's what it took for us to get out of this thing with a win," added Mahaffey.

The Trojans will look to add another district win on Tuesday when Obion County makes a visit to DHS.