RAYMOND — Vicksburg High will play for the Ranger Round-up championship today at 8:30 after the Gators’ 60-57 victory over Clinton in overtime Thursday. The Gators will be matched up against Forest at Raymond High School for the title.

“It was about time we won a close ball game,” VHS coach Dellie C. Robinson said. “We went through another of our little bad spurts there in the third quarter and it hurt us. We got down but found a way to come back. We’ll take this.”

The Gators finally got some good things to happen in overtime. With the game tied at 57 and less than 26 seconds to play in overtime, Clinton guard Caleb Smith, who had entered after the Arrows’ starting point guard fouled out with 47 seconds left in the game, was trapped near the side and called timeout. The Arrows (14-4) didn’t have any to call.

The result of the play was a technical foul giving Vicksburg two free throws and possession of the ball. Mychal Ammons made one of two free throws to break the tie with 24.7 seconds left. Jonathan Phelps then made one of two after getting fouled with 17.3 seconds left. Down two, Clinton was then called for a double-dribble. Ammons then made another free throw to ice it for the Gators (12-4).

Up six at the half, Vicksburg had seven turnovers in the third quarter and watched Clinton go on a 13-1 run to take a 33-27 lead. The Arrows led by as many as eight in the fourth quarter until the Gators inched closer, finally tying the game at 51 after Phelps hit two free throws with 5.5 seconds left.

Phelps finished with a game-high 27 points. Ammons had 14. The Gators got a big lift off the bench from Kelsey Howard, who hit a 3-pointer early in the overtime to give the Gators their first lead since halftime.

(G) Clinton 57, Vicksburg 39

Both Vicksburg coach Barbara Hartzog and Clinton’s Felicia Lofton were in agreement in saying the Ranger Round-up is more about getting ready for next week than trying to win a tournament.

Clinton will shoot for the tournament title tonight at 7 against Raymond.

For Lofton, the win over Vicksburg was nice but she hopes it gets her team ready to face the other Vicksburg team — Warren Central.

“Our first division game is next Friday at Warren Central,” Lofton said. “I feel pretty good about where we are. We still have to fine tune some things. We did pretty well today. The defensive effort was there. Our half-court trap worked well.”

The Missy Gators had to play without one of its top players in forward Kamiko Martin, who had 15 points in Wednesday’s upset of Brandon. Martin suffered a twisted ankle in the fourth quarter and Hartzog said she will be out a week. That means she will miss today’s game at 4 p.m. against Tupelo.

“We should have her back for Lanier next Friday,” Hartzog said. “As for this game, this goes on my record, not the girls. It doesn’t affect our district record.”

Hartzog, however, would’ve liked to seen her team make at least couple of easy shots.

Vicksburg (7-9) could make just four shots per quarter and that was not enough to handle the likes of Clinton which features 6-foot-4 Georgia Tech signee Sasha Goodlett inside.

Goodlett powered Clinton (15-3) with 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots. Erika Robinson had 14 points and Kortney Bolton added 12.

Taylor Ammons had 15 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks to lead VHS. Alexus Stirgus chipped in 10 points and seven assists.

(B) WC 77, Terry 60

Terry’s B-teamers gave WC a game before falling by 17 to the Vikings (5-11) in the consolation round of the Ranger Round-up. WC plays Canton today at 2:30 in its final game at Raymond.

Dino Harris scored 24 points to pace WC which led 30-23 at the half. The Vikings outscored Terry 24-13 in the third quarter to go up 54-36. Jeremye Smith added 11 points. Eugene Thomas led Terry with 14.