VALDOSTA — It was an ugly one, but the Lowndes Vikings (7-4) managed to get it done with defense late in their 39-33 victory against the Brunswick Pirates (5-2).

There wasn’t one player who got it done Tuesday night, the final game at home for Lowndes until after the holiday break, but instead it was a complete team effort that got them across the finish line.

If you were to pick one player that had a big impact on the game, it would certainly be senior Romulous Khalil.

“Romulous Khalil, he’s a guy that doesn’t play a whole lot but he wound up starting tonight. He’s tough and played really good defense,” Lowndes head coach Reshon Benjamin said. “All week we’ve just been talking about, ‘You don’t have to be great, just do a lot of the little things right,’ and he’s a guy who epitomizes that.”

Khalil did all of the little things right on Tuesday on his way to nine points, five rebounds and a steal.

He’s someone who’s played sparingly so far this year, not usually playing for more than a minute at a time as someone who struggles to guard penetration from the perimeter and find a position on the court.

Tuesday night, however, it was like watching a completely different player.

His nine points and five rebounds were the result of him positioning himself well on offense, and defensively, he maintained good ball pressure while still being able to make intelligent swipes at the ball as Brunswick players came into his vicinity.

He wasn’t the only player who saw increased minutes, as sophomore Kam Jackson left his impact on the game as well.

Jackson held his own on the interior when Benjamin decided to go with him over senior Landon New, as his athleticism matched up better with Brunswick. Jackson finished with five points and six rebounds, and while as a whole Lowndes had some trouble guarding Brunswick’s interior attack he kept them afloat defensively.

Defense was the name of the game, too, as both teams scored single digits in three out of the four quarters. The game was tied at 16 at halftime, and the third quarter saw the most scoring for both clubs.

All nine of senior Demarcus Black’s points came in the third quarter as he struggled to get much else going in the rest of the game, in large part thanks to Brunswick’s defensive personnel.

“They played really good defense, [Riyon Rankin],” Benjamin said. “He’s long, he’s athletic, and he’s built just like Black. I think he gave him some trouble.”

With Brunswick essentially taking Black’s self creation out of the game it took opportune buckets from a host of Lowndes players for them to come away with the win.

Sophomore Sam Shoptaw, Khalil and junior Keyshawn Arthur all had timely (and the only) baskets in the fourth quarter. Lowndes scored seven but held Brunswick to a measly four points in the fourth, most of which they were scoreless.

BRUNSWICK 54, VIKETTES 44

Tuesday night saw the end of the Lowndes Vikettes’ (5-3) four-game win streak in a loss to the Brunswick Lady Pirates (5-2).

This game started similarly to most of the Vikettes’ games to this point, leading by as much as 17 in the second quarter in what looked to be another blowout win.

But the Lady Pirates put up five quick points in the final minute of the second trailing 27-15 at the half, one of the closer halftime scores the Vikettes have had this season.

Early in the third quarter, however, the Lady Pirates earned their first single digit deficit since they trailed 8-0 in the first, then trailing 27-19.

The Vikettes narrowly escaped the third quarter with a 34-33 lead but the Lady Pirates were relentless in their attack of the rim, and took their first lead of the night at 37-36 roughly a minute into the fourth quarter.

It was a big back and forth between the clubs for much of the quarter, but the Lady Pirates senior center Shane Jackson fought hard on the offensive glass and helped put away the game.

“They capitalized on our mistakes, and we made a ton of them in the second half,” Vikettes head coach Antonia Tookes said. “We just gotta do better as a team, learn how to finish strong in each quarter. I think in the third quarter they scored 18 points and we scored seven, and that was the game right there.

“[We didn’t] call our plays, run our plays, or do what we were supposed to do. We just got out of sync, and said ‘Hey, we got a lead so let’s play around.’ You can’t play around with a team that’s well coached. They’re going to keep fighting and they’re going to get back in it just like they did, they won it. We played the perfect game the first quarter and a half, then after that it was ‘play by myself’…there wasn’t anything disciplined about that second half.”