Viking point guard David Natale soars for two of his six points against White House-Heritage in non-district action. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

Community dug themselves a 28-4 hole through just over 10 minutes of play against White House-Heritage, climbed back to daylight, only to slip back into the dark abyss again and lost 72-52.

Cold shooting at crucial times and turnovers proved to be the Vikings' undoing in the game despite 16 points from junior post Justin Stallings and 15 by second-year guard Cody Pierce. They wrapped up regular-season play with a mark of 11-11.

Tyrone White and James Towns jump-started the Patriot offense with 14 points between them while holding Community to just four points in the first quarter to go up 19-4. Heritage then bumped their upper hand to 28-4 before a basket by Pierce would lead to a nine-point run by the home team.

"We went into meltdown mode for a little while there and it proved to be our undoing," Viking coach Jace Bryant said. "Not many teams can spot their opponent a 24-point lead and come back to win the game.

"We did make a pretty nice run at them, but it was too little, too late unfortunately."

Community got eight points from Stallings and pulled to within 32-23 when Dustin White swished a 65-foot heave as the horn sounded to bring the crowd to their feet and send his team to the break with renewed enthusiasm.

The Purple and Gold reeled off six unanswered points in the third period to pull to within just three points of the Patriots only to have Ross Albright bust a trey from the corner while drawing a foul by his defender. Albright completed the four-point play and the visitors never looked back as they poured it on with 25 points in the final minutes, including being successful on 15-of-18 tosses from the charity stripe.

"We used up a lot of energy to get back into the ballgame," Bryant said. "Time to put this one behind us and concentrate on the new season starting on Tuesday.

"All records are 0-0 now. Every team in the tournament has as good a chance as any other. It is a matter of playing a complete game, and we have shown that we can do that. It is time for us to live up to our potential on a consistent basis."

Albright led all scorers with 23 points while White added 13.

Stallings had 16 and Pierce netted 15 for the Vikings.

Community travels to Wartrace to take on fourth seeded Cascade in the elimination round of the District 9-A tournament on Tuesday.

Click here for a tentative look at the bracket.