MURFREESBORO -- Community continued a familiar theme Tuesday night in their 56-40 District 9-A loss at Middle Tennessee Christian by playing well in the first part of the game, only to lose control in the second half.

Viking point guard Zach Haynes drives baseline against Middle Tennessee Christian's Taylor Beckham. (T-G Photo by Jimmy Jones) [Click to enlarge]

The Vikings, starting three or four freshmen, were faced with a Cougar team featuring three seniors and two juniors at tip-off.

Community was down 13-10 after one period, but battled back to take a 14-13 lead early in the second.

Over the next 3:21, Middle Tennessee Christian went on a 7-0 run before Josh Hull put a stop to the bleeding with a jump shot from 15 feet.

The Cougars closed out the quarter on a 3-pointer by Matt Wright to take a 26-17 lead at the break.

"I thought that we ran our offense real well in the first half," Viking coach Mike Edmondson said. "We missed some easy shots early in the second half and we got down a little bit because of it."

"We have had trouble handling the press all year and this game was no exception, though we had a season-low 13 turnovers. Give MTCS credit. They are a veteran team and they took advantage of our youthful mistakes tonight. It will serve as a learning experience for the kids."

The Cougars led 48-28 after three quarters.

Community's Ryan Zindars was high scorer for the night with 14 points.

Jake Siler tallied 13 points for the Cougars.

The Vikings shot 7-of-14 from the free-throw line.

The Cougars were 6-of-9 from the charity stripe.

Community hosts district foe Van Buren County on Friday night.