Vicksburg finally ended its recent losing streak against Warren Central at four games but it was not without some major anxiety at the end.

The Vikings had a shot to beat the Gators with two seconds to play in overtime, but Shone Ester’s shot from 16 feet was partially blocked and Vicksburg escaped with a 64-63 win in the Division 3-5A opener before a packed house at WC Saturday afternoon.

&#8220We’ll take a win over Warren Central any day of the week,” said a relieved VHS coach Dellie C. Robinson who watched his team make just 4 of 15 free throw attempts in overtime.

&#8220I guess next week we’ll make one,” Robinson joked. &#8220(John) Qualls got us two huge offensive rebounds off a couple of those misses. And we’re 1-0 in the division which is long time since that’s happened.”

Qualls got fouled on both of his rebounds. On the latter rebound, which came when the normally reliable Jonathan Phelps missed both of his attempts with 32.3 seconds left, Qualls dropped in his two free throws for a 64-59 lead.

&#8220It was a matter of who wanted it more at the end. We wanted to win it for him,” Qualls said of Robinson.

Up 64-61, Phelps, who had a game high 27 points, again missed a two-shot foul with 16 seconds left. WC’s Mario Luckett took the rebound and drove the length of the court for his final basket of the game that made it 64-63 with 10 seconds left.

Delmon Robinson got his chance to ice things, but he too, missed a pair of free throws with 8 seconds left. That gave WC, one last shot at the win, but the Viking guards got delayed at midcourt. That forced a rushed last shot that was partially blocked by the Gators’ Levextwin Trunell.

Despite the loss, WC coach Jesse Johnson was proud of the effort.

&#8220It was a good game by us. We had less mistakes against the type of competition Vicksburg brings than we’ve had all year. That was the effort I was looking for,” Johnson said.

&#8220If we could bring that type of effort every game, we can compete with anybody. We shot poorly in the second half, but our effort was there.”

Vicksburg (8-3) got 11 points from Phelps in the first quarter to take a 16-14 lead. Then the Gators hit the skids with a dreadful second period as the Vikings outscored them 18-5 to take a 32-21 lead at the break.

Ester dropped in a pair of 3-pointers while VHS had just two made baskets from the field in the quarter.

Down 13, the Gators picked up their defense and began getting steals in the halfcourt.

Robinson credited his son, Delmon, for the turnaround.

&#8220Delmon is our sparkplug on defense. And he didn’t play the second quarter because of two fouls. But he made things happen there in the third quarter,” coach Robinson said.

A basket by Qualls tied the game at 38-all and Delmon Robinson finished off a 2-on-1 break to give VHS its first lead since the opening quarter.

It was tied at 40-all at the end of three quarters and with 4:27 to play, it was tied again at 48, following a basket by Smith who had 17 points for WC.

Wince gave the Vikings (5-6) their last lead at 56-54 but Phelps answered, hitting both ends of a two-shot foul to make it 56-56.

A WC turnover gave the Gators a shot to win in regulation but the final play developed too late and Maurice Williams’ shot was short.

In overtime, Phelps and Qualls converted steals into a four-point Gator lead with 2:47 remaining.

Robinson ended with 15 points and Qualls had nine. Luckett led the Vikings with 20 and Ester had 10.