JACKSON — The past six weeks have devolved into one long, forgettable slog for the Vicksburg Gators. They finally seemed poised to break out of it Monday afternoon, until a slump within the slump kept the spiral going for at least a few more days.

The Gators only scored 10 points over the last 15 minutes of the game, which allowed an 11-point lead to evaporate and Mendenhall to rally for a 55-51 victory at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Basketball Classic at Lanier High School.

“That’s been our Achilles heel all season. The fourth quarter, it’s hard for us to score for some reason. We stopped sharing the ball like we were in the first half. We got a little selfish, and it’s hurting us,” Vicksburg coach Kelvin Carter said.

It was the eighth loss in nine games for the Gators (5-12), who were playing the second of five games in a seven-day span. They’ll play three consecutive road games later this week, with division games at Ridgeland and Callaway Thursday and Friday followed by a matchup with Port Gibson in the Red Carpet Basketball Classic on Saturday afternoon. The Red Carpet Classic is at Warren Central.

“We’ve just got to get a win. We’re in that slump and we’ve got district play Thursday. We’ve got to turn it around, or we know we’re going to be at the house,” Carter said.

The Gators’ last five losses have all been by double digits, but they came out strong against Class 4A power Mendenhall (14-5).

Cameron Butler scored 15 of his team-high 18 points in the first quarter to help the Gators open up a 30-17 lead midway through the second period. Vicksburg hit six 3-pointers total in the first half and led by eight at halftime. Another Butler trey in the early moments of the third quarter pushed that margin to 11.

From then on, however, the Gators were ice cold. It was five minutes until they scored their next point, on Ke’Darrion Parson’s baseline layup with 2:15 to go, and Mendenhall seized that opportunity to make a run.

Brandon Mills hit a 3-pointer and Chanston Berry converted a traditional three-point play to key a 14-0 surge that put the Tigers ahead for the first time since the game’s opening minutes. They took a 46-45 lead into the fourth quarter.

Berry led Mendenhall with a game-high 24 points, while Mills scored 11.

“We’re just not paying attention to detail. Initially, we came in trying to contain (Mills, Chanston Berry and David Berry). (Mills) got into the lane and he sucked everybody in and kicked the ball out. He did his job and we didn’t,” Carter said.

Kamari English briefly put Vicksburg back in front early in the fourth quarter. He drilled a 3-pointer, then stole a pass on Mendenhall’s ensuing possession and took it in for a layup and a foul. His free throw gave the Gators a 51-48 lead with 5:26 to go, but those were their final points of the game.

Mendenhall tied it with a 3-pointer by Chanston Berry, then took a 53-51 lead on his alley-oop layup with just over three minutes remaining.

After a missed shot by VHS, the Tigers elected to hold the ball and burn some clock. The Gators trapped Mendenhall’s guards a couple of times and forced them to take two timeouts, but only got two turnovers in the last 2 ½ minutes. Vicksburg turned it over twice when it had the ball, including an ill-advised pass by Butler that was stolen by Chanston Berry with two seconds to go.

Berry was fouled and hit both free throws to seal the win. Vicksburg’s last possession was a halfcourt heave at the buzzer by Parson that was well off the mark.

“We just had a few mistakes where we kept turning the ball over. It was just mental mistakes that we need to work on in practice,” said Parson, who finished with nine points, seven rebounds and six assists.