RAYMOND — The Vicksburg Gators did everything they wanted to at the Raymond Tournament.

They shook off a few week’s worth of rust, added a few notches to the win column, and even got a little test heading into the meat of their division schedule.

Kelsey Howard scored 15 of his game-high 22 points in the second half, and Vicksburg capped off a perfect three-game run at the Raymond Tournament by beating the pesky hosts 66-61 on Wednesday. Denzell Erves added 12 points and eight rebounds, and Maurice Williams scored 14 points for VHS.

In its three wins at the tournament, Vicksburg (8-3) committed a total of just 31 turnovers and held their three opponents — Forest, Lake and Raymond — to a combined 30.1 percent shooting.

The biggest test of the week comes on Friday night, though, when VHS heads to Jackson to face Lanier (9-3). Vicksburg won both meetings between the teams last season, but Lanier’s long history of state championships still makes it the big dog in Division 3-4A.

The Lanier game also kicks off a long, hard stretch of games for VHS to end the season. After playing just eight times in the first two months of the season — and three times in December prior to this week’s tournament — Vicksburg will play 13 games in the next five weeks. Ten of those are division games.

“That we could get three victories over here, that’s a blessing for us because we’re trying to get the kids ready for division play. We knew Raymond was going to be our biggest test,” Vicksburg coach Dellie C. Robinson said. “That helped us. They’re going to be in the same kind of game on Friday when we go to Lanier. The kids are going to have to play hard.”

The Gators seemed poised to run away to another big win against Raymond (8-6), but had to hold off a furious fourth-quarter comeback.

Vicksburg took a 13-point lead into the final period, only to see the Rangers chop it in half in the first two minutes. Increased pressure by Raymond’s press and a cold snap by the Gators’ shooters enabled the run, and the Rangers cut it to 47-41 on a 3-pointer with 4 1/2 minutes left.

Erves dropped in a basket on the other end, sparking a brief VHS run that pushed the lead back to double figures, but Raymond came back again. A 3-pointer by O’wond Lofton — one of four the Rangers hit in the fourth quarter — got them back within eight, and another trey by Jafari Frazier in the final minute pulled them within five.

Lofton hit four 3-pointers in the game and led Raymond with 14 points, while Jeremy Williams had 15 points and eight rebounds.

Vicksburg was able to hang on, though, thanks to several long outlet passes from Williams that Howard was able to convert into easy layups, and some sharp foul shooting. The Gators were 13-for-19 from the foul line in the fourth quarter.

(G) Pass Christian 72, VHS 51

Jasmine Bradley had a monster game with 27 points, 21 rebounds and six steals, and Pass Christian (12-2) pulled away late to rout Vicksburg (5-6). Alexus Stirgus scored 23 points for Vicksburg, Kamiko Martin had 15 and Donyeah Mayfield grabbed 10 rebounds. But the Missy Gators were never able to overcome a rough second quarter in which they went 1-for-11 from the field and committed nine turnovers.

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Contact Ernest Bowker at ebowker@vicksburgpost.com