Slowly — ever so slowly — Warren Central chipped away at a seven-point deficit in the third quarter Tuesday against Forest Hill.

It took the Vikings five minutes to get six of the points back. Then, one defensive lapse erased all of the hard work and let the air out of the room.

Keondre Montgomery’s baseline dunk off an inbounds pass broke up Warren Central’s run, and Tre’Voin Bass’ basket 20 seconds later pushed the lead back to five and sent the Patriots on their way. Warren Central never got closer than six points in the fourth quarter and lost 49-40.

“We don’t communicate well out on the floor,” Warren Central coach Bruce Robinson said. “We had cut it to one and changed defenses, and nobody guards the best player in the gym. Then we turned it over, they pushed it out to five, and we never could get it back. We’re still in the getting to know you phase. It’s tough.”

Montgomery led Forest Hill (3-2) — last season’s Class 5A runner-up — with 21 points, including 16 in the first half. Bass finished with eight.

Jabari Bowman totaled 16 points for Warren Central (3-4), which lost its second game in a row after compiling a three-game winning streak. The Vikings have scored 28 and 40 points in the two losses and only led for a few minutes combined.

After rallying from an early deficit against Forest Hill to tie it at 17 by the end of the first quarter, they only scored four points in the second. Then, despite holding Forest Hill scoreless for the first 5:20 of the third quarter, they weren’t able to take advantage of it to gain the lead.

Montgomery’s dunk was the start of a 9-3 run that sent the Patriots into the final period with a 37-30 lead. Their advantage grew as high as 11 points as the Vikings went on a four-minute scoring drought. Warren Central also was just 9-for-22 from the free throw line in the game.

“Forest Hill is good. They’ve got two Dandy Dozens. They played for a state championship last year. They’ve played a playoff-style schedule. So just to play them 49-40, especially knowing we had just come off a really tough ballgame, I think we should have won it but the effort was there,” Robinson said. “The defense was there. The game plan was there. It’s just a matter of taking care of the basketball. Missed layups and turnovers were key. Defensively, we were pleased. Offensively, we’ve got to catch up.”

(G) WC 67, Forest Hill 51

Aniya Sanders scored a game-high 19 points, and Te’Asia Sims added 13 as Warren Central’s girls’ team (3-3) knocked off Forest Hill (1-4).

Four WC players scored in double figures. In addition to Sanders and Sims, Cabria Barnes netted 12 points and Jennifer Fullford had 10.

The Lady Vikes led by just six points heading into the fourth quarter, then outscored the Lady Patriots 23-11 the rest of the way. Barnes and Fullford combined for 13 of Warren Central’s 23 points in the fourth quarter.

Geonna Marshall led Forest Hill with 13 points. Ayanna Smith and Taaliyah McGraw scored 12 apiece.

(B) VHS 63, Wingfield 52

Devan Kiner hit four 3-pointers, including three in the second half, and finished with 18 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks to lead Vicksburg High (5-1) past Wingfield (3-4) and to its fourth consecutive victory.

Greg Jenkins added 13 points and five rebounds, and Jermiyah Brown scored nine points for the Gators, who will host defending Class 4A champion Raymond Thursday at 6 p.m.

Stephon Thomas led Wingfield with 20 points and six rebounds.

In the girls’ game, Vicksburg beat Wingfield 69-44 to improve to 6-0 and continue the program’s best start in 20 years.