Viking Cody Pierce goes hard to the basket challenged by Eagleville's Jay Paul-Lenker. (T-G Photo by Jimmy Jones) [Click to enlarge]

For the second consecutive game, the Community Vikings defense has held a highly ranked team that normally averages 70 points a game to under 50.

And, again, they took that opponent to the closing minutes only to let the game slip away as visiting Eagleville managed a 47-35 District 9-A win Friday night that was much closer than the final score indicates.

"We are just the opposite of what most coaches have to tell their teams after a loss," Viking coach Jace Bryant said. "Most coaches have to remind their teams to play defense and get after loose balls -- not my guys. Our defense is right where I want it to be and we play as hard as anybody.

"Our problem is offense. We just can't put the ball in the hole enough to get past good teams like Eagleville and Van Buren. We shot 25 percent from the floor and were 0-for-9 from the 3-point line.

"We missed enough layups to win this game and it is inconceivable to me why we passed up a bunch more to settle for jump shots when we can't hit a layup."

Community (9-8, 4-6 9-A) jumped out to the lead barely 40 seconds into the game on a basket by Josh Hull, then gave up 10 unanswered points as Jimbo Porter sank two 3-pointers to lead the Eagles to a 15-10 advantage by quarter's end.

The Viking defense shut down the Eagleville (15-6, 9-1) inside game, but Jared Wilson duplicated Porter's first quarter feat from behind the arc. Community managed one field goal by Hull to fall behind 25-16 at intermission.

Community posted its best offensive outing in the third quarter. Hull and Norris combined for 10 points while holding the high-powered Eagle offense to just four baskets to trim the lead to 36-30 going to the final stanza.

Community's Josh Hull (3) and Justin Stallings double up on the Eagles' Jo Jo Wilson as he tries to get off a shot in the second quarter. (T-G Photo by Jimmy Jones) [Click to enlarge]

It was more of the same for the Vikings in the fourth quarter as the defense was superb, holding the Eagles to just one field goal by Wilson. Community cut the lead to just three points on two occasions as late as three minutes to play.

Eagleville let the air out of the ball and was able to connect on 9-of-15 free throws in the closing minutes to preserve the win.

"I told the kids that I am not disappointed with the effort in this game," Bryant said. "I would take this kind of effort every night. We just need to get to work on finding ways to put more points on the board.

"We are getting enough good looks and we are getting to the basket enough to win ball games. We -- and I put emphasis on we, because it's not just one or two guys -- just have to get better at finishing the play."

Porter had 15 in the game to earn game-high honors for the Eagles. Khameron Lillard added 14.

Community was led by Norris with 12.

The Vikings held a 42-30 edge in rebounds and took 50 shots to 45 for the Eagles while making only 12.

Community travels to Hampshire on Monday night for a non-district game at 6.