BELL BUCKLE, Tenn. – The No. 4 seed Community Vikings (16-11, 3-5) gave the No.1 seed Loretto (15-9, 7-1) all that the Mustangs could handle, but ultimately could not connect on enough shots down the stretch to spring the upset in a 45-41 defeat on Friday night in the District 9-AA semifinals.

“We just didn’t get to the paint enough in the second half,” Vikings’ head coach Hunter Ferrell said, “We did a phenomenal job of that in the first half. We talked about getting some more movement to help our drivers get to the paint, and our posts did a pretty good job of getting opposite and forcing their big into conflict deciding whether he was going to slide over and help to try and block the shot or if he was going to stay home. We executed pretty well, but then in the second half we let the zone make us a little more passive. We didn’t drive it as much as we needed to. “

The Vikings looked like the better team for just about the entire first half, taking a 30-26 lead into the halftime locker room after Haskins scored 10 of his 12 points in the first two quarters. Community’s lead guard was able to get to the paint almost at will, and he seemed to make a play for either himself or a teammate every time down the floor. 

Jaxon Williams also scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half, and it looked extremely similar to Haskins. Williams was able to get to the paint almost at will, and the two Viking guards forced Loretto to go zone in the second half.

In the third quarter, the battle-tested Mustangs took control, outscoring Community, 14-6, to take a 40-36 lead heading into the final frame. Kylon Wilkerson scored seven of his 11 points in the third period alone while Tidwell connected on his only three-pointer of the night as part of his five points in the quarter. Meanwhile, Haskins scored his final bucket of the game, Masyn Hill connected on a two-point field goal, and Karson Boyce made a layup.

Then, the game slowed down immensely in the final frame. Both teams scored just five points, but the Vikings still managed to have the ball down by three points in the final minutes. 

“Back to back times we’ve played them [Loretto] where we think we’ve done enough defensively to win the game. Tidwell definitely gave us a lot of trouble the last time we played them, and we made a concerted effort to make sure that he did something other than shoot the basketball. Burleson made some big ones early that really hurt, and Wilkerson made some plays off putbacks. It wasn’t necessarily the first-shot defense that hurt us, it was the second shots.” 

Unfortunately for Community, three-point attempt after three-point attempt came up short down the stretch, and the Vikings were unable to upset Loretto for the second time this season.

“You’re not going to win many games when you hit one three and make zero free throws. We’re a few plays away, but at this point in the season you’re running out of time to make those plays to keep on playing.”

Loretto connected on seven threes to Community’s one, and the Mustangs finished 7-of-8 at the free throw line while the Vikings went 0-for-3.

Community falls to 16-11 overall. The Vikings take on Cascade in the ‘Battle of Bedford’ at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday in the District 9-AA consolation game at Cascade High School.

COMMUNITY: C. Haskins 12, J. Williams 12, K. Boyce 6, J. Lawwell 4, A. Tocchio 3 (1), M. Hill 2, J. Powers 2. 

LORETTO: M. Tidwell 14 (1), K. Wilkerson 11 (1), C. Burleson 9 (3), C. Andrews 7 (1), J. Aaron 4.