The Vicksburg Gators thought they had Saturday’s Red Carpet Classic championship in the bag at halftime.

But after a near second-half collapse, Vicksburg coach Dellie C. Robinson hopes his team learned a valuable lesson as the Gators lost every bit of a 17-point third quarter lead.

Fortunately, some plays at key moments in the fourth quarter allowed the Gators to escape with a 73-66 win over Long Beach in a thrilling Red Carpet Classic game at Warren Central Saturday afternoon.

“They took it to us there in the third quarter,” a relieved Robinson said of Long Beach’s comeback from a 40-23 halftime deficit. “We stumbled and bumbled around and they just trapped us real well. It was a good trap.

“We may have gotten complacent with the big lead. And maybe we thought it would be as easy in the second half, especially since they were without (Savalace) Townsend. But we have to go ahead and play the full 32 minutes. Maybe this was valuable lesson for us.”

Long Beach came to Vicksburg without its leading scorer in Townsend, who’s out with a broken bone in his foot. After watching the Gators (20-5) run roughshod behind the tandem of Kelsey Howard, 19 first half points, and Jonathan Phelps, 14 first half points, Long Beach came out on fire in the third quarter.

Howard did not play in the period because of a bruised abdomen, leaving Phelps pretty much having to create some offense against pressure defense. The Gators had 11 of its 19 turnovers in the third quarter alone.

The Bearcats, who had struggled shooting in the first half, made 11 of 13 shots in the quarter, to forge a tie at 50. Two free throws by Phelps, who ended with 31 points, gave VHS a 52-50 lead.

Long Beach continued to attack the rim but at least Vicksburg had another option to go to in the fourth as Denzell Erves, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, came up big. He provided presence on both ends, blocking four shots, grabbing three rebounds and scoring three baskets off the block.

“That’s the No. 1 thing for me is making blocked shots and playing defense,” said Erves, who finished with seven points.

Long Beach tied the game for the final time at 56 after two free throws from Micah McNally. Erves answered for the Gators to give them the lead for good at 58-56.

A driving basket by Phelps coupled with a pair of free throws helped the Gators regain the lead and build it to 68-59 with 1:32 to play.

Then the Gators started playing strange again.

Two turnovers and two missed free throws opened the door for Long Beach to cut the lead down to 69-66 and go for the tie with 40 seconds to play. Long Beach’s Jeremy Hill came up short on a 6-footer that Mychal Ammons had covered up. Delmon Robinson came up with the loose ball, straddling the line, before calling VHS’ last time out with 20 seconds left.

“I was right there near the line but I stayed inbounds,” Delmon Robinson said.

On the inbound, Ammons found Howard for a clinching basket and Phelps then added his fifth steal to set up Howard again for the seven-point win.

(G) VHS 51, Long Beach 37

In what has been a tough second half of the season, the Missy Gators finally created some breaks and played a full 32 minutes to win coach Barbara Hartzog’s third straight Red Carpet Classic.

Jazmine Walker scored eight of her team high 10 points in the first quarter to key VHS to a 12-6 lead. They never trailed over the remaining three quarters, gaining the Missy Gators only their second win in their 10 games.

“We actually played some defense and we had some shots fall,” Walker said. “Our defense was really good today, for the whole game. That’s good because I love playing defense. I hope this will help us for the rest of the season.”

Long Beach (15-6) closed to within 22-19 early in the third quarter but a 9-0 run capped by a 3-pointer gave VHS (9-16) a 31-19 lead with 3:46 left in the quarter.

The Missy Gators’ biggest lead reached 17 with 6:09 left before Long Beach cut it back to nine but got no closer.

Kamiko Martin had nine points while Taylor Ammons and Donyeah Mayfield had eight each.

Long Beach was led by Delainne Lyons with 13 points and Crissy Slade had 10.