UNIONVILLE — In the closing seconds of Tuesday night’s District 7-AA semifinal against Forrest, Maki Fleming and Stratton Lovvorn connected on some key free throws to land the Purple and Gold a 50-47 win.
Tuesday night’s win over the Rockets (10-15) was the third by the Vikings (14-14) this season, it was the closest margin of victory, with both prior wins being double-digit victories.
“When you play somebody three times, everybody knows the old adage, it’s just hard to do. In a tournament atmosphere, you’re going to get their best. Forrest has gotten better and they’re playing really good basketball,” Viking coach Robbie Davis said.
While it was a pair of back-to-back one-and-one attempts in the final five seconds that ultimately won it for Community, some timely baskets in the second half by senior Trace Broiles helped put the Vikings in position to make plays at the end of the game.
“Some kids stepped up tonight. I want to point out Trace Broiles. He had three three-pointers in the second half,” Davis said.
Broiles’ biggest shot of the night broke a 47-all tie with 3:14 left in the game.
Community did not trail again.
While never truly able to pull away, the Rockets utilized an effective 1-3-1 zone defense that gave the Vikings fits with consistency on the offensive end of the court on Tuesday.
“We were trying to get guys in position to just basically overload it. The thing is, we even talked about it in practice where we wanted to take the back side guy completely out of the play,” Davis said.
“They’re good at what they do. With that 1-3-1, they will definitely catch some fits with whoever they catch in the region.”
While able to connect on baskets sporadically, Forrest was able to keep it a one-possession game for virtually the entirety of the second half.
Trailing 37-35 after three quarters, Forrest opened the fourth on a six-point run, including back-to-back baskets by Hunter Bennett, to lead 41-37 with 6:35 left.
Community answered with a six-point run of its own, highlighted by a Broiles 3-pointer to give Community a 42-41 lead with 5:41 left.
After Bennett tied the game at 47 on a basket with 3:14 left, Forrest’s Davin Porter saw a shot bounce out of the rim with 1:11 to go.
From there, Community held possession until the 14-second mark and called a time out.
It was the following play that Maki Fleming was able to drive the paint, draw a foul, and get to the line for a one-and-one attempt.
After Fleming connected on both attempts, the Rockets opted for a timeout of their own with five seconds to go.
On the following inbound attempt, it was Lovvorn who came up with a turnover and drew the foul, giving the Vikings another one-and-one opportunity.
While he hit the front end of the free throw attempts, the Rockets were able to corral the rebound on the second attempt and it was Deason Jones who fired off a 45-footer that nearly sent the game to overtime.
While any postseason win is a good win, Davis said the experience his young squad gained in Tuesday’s tournament atmosphere will be invaluable moving forward.
“This was the first time these guys, other than Stratton and Maki, have been in an atmosphere like this. The tournament process was big,” Davis said.
As a team, the Vikings finished 8-of-13 at the free throw line, but were 3-of-4 in the fourth quarter.
Bennett and Porter combined for 30 points to lead the Rockets, but it was Community’s big three that came through in the clutch.
Lovvorn led the Vikings with 13 points, while Fleming added 10.
Broiles connected on three of the Vikings’ six treys in the contest and finished with nine points.
The win advances the Vikings to the 7-AA championship game where the No. 1 seed Cascade Champions await.
Cascade defeated Grundy County 65-46 in the other semifinal.
The two Bedford County teams are no strangers to each other and meet in the postseason for the first time since 2013, with the Vikings winning the prior two postseason meetings.
With the near-10-year drought of playing Cascade over, Davis said the renewal of this rivalry with postseason implications is a big impact on the landscape of county athletics.
“When they redrew the districts and we saw where we’re going to be with Cascade, this is what we need. This place will be loud,” he said.
Community will face No. 1 Cascade in the 7-AA championship on Saturday at 7:45.

Forrest 14 11 10 12 — 47
Community 14 12 11 13 — 50

Forrest: Hunter Bennett 16, Davin Porter 14, Deason Jones 7, Andrew Timmons 6, Ben Villazon 2, Brennan Mealer 2.
Community: Stratton Lovvorn 13, Maki Fleming 10, Trace Broiles 9, Jason Cullum 7, Corey Paterick 5, Jacob Flanagan 4, Cole Crockett 2.
3-Point goals: Community (6): Broiles 3, Lovvorn, Cullum, Paterick; Forrest (3): Porter 2, Jones.
Halftime score: Community 26, Forrest 25.