Vicksburg’s Sedrick Williams, right, is fouled by Forest Hill’s Anthony Booze late in the first half Friday night. Williams had 19 points, but Forest Hill won the game 68-64. (Meredith Spencer The Vicksburg Post)

[11/11/04] The Vicksburg Gators are proving this season that when they’re involved, no lead is safe.

And, for them, that’s not a good thing.

Forest Hill’s Kevin Sims scored 12 of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter, including a go-ahead layup with 12.7 seconds left and two free throws to seal it 11 seconds later, to give the Rebels a 68-64 win.

Vicksburg squandered a 19-point first-half lead. It was the second straight game the Gators lost after leading at halftime, and the loss dropped them to 0-2 in Division 6-5A play.

“We just can’t get it done coming down the stretch. It’s a turnover here, a missed pass there, and the technical foul certainly didn’t help us at all,” VHS coach Dellie C. Robinson said, referring to a late technical that swung momentum back toward Forest Hill. “It’s tough, but these are tough kids. We expect them to fight back. We’re not going to lay down because we lost these two games.”

While Tuesday’s loss to Natchez was the result of a number of mistakes, Friday’s game had a clear turning point.

Holding a 62-60 lead with under a minute to play, the Gators were trying to run out the clock. They got the foul they were looking for when Forest Hill’s Brandon Brinson grabbed Fred Thomas near midcourt.

Instead of going straight to the free throw line, however, Thomas handed the ball to Brinson and was called for a technical foul. Thomas hit his two free throws from the initial foul, but Sims hit the two for the technical. So instead of a four-point lead, the Gators were up by only one basket and Forest Hill (7-6, 1-0) got the ball.

“We had the game pretty well under control with a two-point lead and the ball, and then we go and get a technical foul called on us and that changed the momentum of the ballgame,” Robinson said. “That hurt us.”

Sims hit two more free throws with 40.2 seconds to play to tie it, and VHS missed two shots in the next 20 seconds that would have given it the lead.

Finally, an inbounds pass was overthrown and Sims scooped up the loose ball at the free throw line in the backcourt. He went coast-to-coast for the layup, putting Forest Hill ahead 66-64 with 12.7 seconds to go.

“Just get it in there,” Sims said of his thoughts when he saw the opportunity develop.

The Gators had one last chance to tie, but never got a shot off. They called a timeout with 3.7 seconds to play, then turned it over on another bad inbounds pass. Sims got the ball, was fouled, and hit both free throws to seal it. The junior went 12-for-12 from the foul line in the game, including 6-for-6 in the fourth quarter.

“He’s as clutch and as steady as they come,” Forest Hill coach Clay Norton said of Sims. “If my life was on the line for him to make a free throw, I’d put it to him.”

Vicksburg (7-6) shot 58 percent from the field and committed only four turnovers in the first half while building a 38-26 lead. The team that came out of the lockerrom bore little resemblance to the one that went in, however.

The Gators turned the ball over nine times in the third quarter alone, and attempted only seven shots in the period. Forest Hill took immediate advantage of Vicksburg’s struggles, erasing the 12-point deficit with a 9-0 run to start the second half.

“We had to have a heart-to-heart at halftime. Very calm,” Norton said with a smile.

Thomas Knight’s layup with 1:20 to play in the third finally put Forest Hill ahead, 49-48, and the teams traded baskets for most of the fourth quarter.

(G) VHS 53, Forest Hill 47

After a season full of missteps and mistakes, the Vicksburg Missy Gators finally got something to celebrate.

Kendra Sims had 13 points and five steals, Rachel Jenkins grabbed 11 rebounds, and VHS (6-7, 1-1) snapped a five-game losing streak with a win over Forest Hill.

Kennedy Ward had a game-high 22 points and nine rebounds for the Lady Rebels (4-9, 0-1).

“We changed a couple of our defenses, and it seems like we’re not giving up layups like we used to. And our team hit shots when we needed to,” VHS coach Mike Coleman said.

Vicksburg shot 50 percent in the first half and led 29-20 at the break. They piggybacked a late run in the second quarter with a 6-0 spurt to start the third to stretch the lead to double digits.

The Missy Gators maintained the lead until a late bout of sloppy play allowed Forest Hill to make a run. The Lady Rebels didn’t get it back under 10 points until Ward’s basket with 55.4 seconds to play, however, and never got closer than six points.