VALDOSTA — It was an ugly one, but the Lowndes Vikings (6-3) sealed their victory late in the 47-46 win over the Bainbridge Bearcats (3-1).

After trailing for the entire game Bainbridge took the lead for the first time at the free throw line with six minutes left in the fourth quarter, leading 40-39.

Nothing was going right for Lowndes at that time. All night they hoisted 3-pointers, and on a night where they shot 8-for-30 from beyond the arc, it was to their detriment.

Bainbridge sensed some panic and dialed up their press, which forced turnover after turnover, taking late possessions from Lowndes.

“It’s a young an inexperienced group, not a lot of these guys played varsity ball last year. In the heat of the moment you have a tendency to make mistakes,” Lowndes head coach Reshon Benjamin said. “I would say that’s more on me, I’ve gotta put better guys in better situations to make sure we don’t have those turnovers and costly mistakes.”

There were two heroes who brought the game home for Lowndes late, however. Junior guard Jeremiah Henderson and sophomore guard Samuel Shoptaw both made incredible plays to take the narrow victory in the final minutes of the game.

With 1:30 left in the game Shoptaw relocated to the left wing, and when the Bainbridge defenders had a miscommunication on the switch, Shoptaw rose up and drained a three that Lowndes desperately needed.

Following a layup from Bainbridge, Lowndes trailed 46-42, and Henderson brought the ball up the floor. He sized up his defender on the right wing, and after he faked a drive he stepped back and drained a three with the Bainbridge defender in his face.

Then leading 46-45 Bainbridge advanced the ball into the front court, but Henderson met the ball handler there, swallowing him up and eventually forcing the game sealing turnover. Once Henderson poked the ball free, he passed it to junior guard Keyshawn Arthur, who then passed it to Shoptaw for the go-ahead layup with 27 seconds left in the game.

“A lot of it was just guts, especially Jeremiah Henderson. To even take the shot, let alone make it, that kid is full of heart and guts. He plays off of straight emotion,” Benjamin said. “Most of what they did tonight was just guts and having a will to win. Like I told them in the locker room, in this game winning and losing is habitual. Whether it’s ugly, whether you make a lot of mistakes while doing it, when you find a way to win it becomes habitual.”

Henderson’s only three points came on that step back three, and his only steal was the game-sealing one. Shoptaw had a team high 15 points, and his counterpart senior forward Demarcus Black finished with 10 points and 8 rebounds, though struggling from the field.

One of the greatest struggles for Lowndes in the game was Black shying away from his usual relentless attack of the basket, and acting more of a jump shooter.

“Credit to [Bainbridge] they’re a really good team, we even saw it on film they’re really good defensively,” Benjamin said. “I always feel like we have enough to find away…It wasn’t pretty, but we found a way to get it done tonight.”

VIKETTES 63, LADY BEARCATS 22

The Lowndes Vikettes (4-2) had another dominating performance in their third straight win, defeating the Bainbridge Lady Bearcats (0-4) 63-22.

This game marks the third time this season the Vikettes have beat an opponent by 39 or more points, and it was led by two bigs: junior forwards Ariyah Davis and Kimora Wade.

The two forwards finished with 12 and 10 points respectively, the highest on the team. Sophomore guard Kaci Demps finished with 10 points as well, and really opened up the game for the Vikettes with her transition offense.

After playing slower and working the ball inside, Demps had several steals and found streaking team members up the court. Following closely were the bigs, who hit the offensive glass in case of a miss.

The Vikettes led 38-11 at the half, and by the end of the third the lead was still safe at 48-16, allowing many of the younger players to get minutes.

Some standouts were freshman center Laila Foster and freshman forward Kayla Jackson, who both looked comfortable and made the right plays.

“When we start getting to the region games and the state playoffs we’re going to need our bench to step up,” Vikettes head coach Antonia Tookes said. “They did get a lot of minutes tonight, and that will help them down the road.”

UP NEXT

Lowndes’ boys and girls team travel to Bainbridge Saturday, Dec. 10. The girls tip at 6 and the boys will follow at 7:30 p.m.