Julius Wilson grew frustrated, and rightfully so, after having a few of his first shots in the game blocked by Tensas.

But that wasn’t going to stop him from shooting, and the junior forward led Vidalia to victory against Tensas Monday night, 76-62.

“I said, ‘Hey it is all part of the game,’ All I needed to do was go back out there and get on his level and play him,” Wilson said.

Wilson did that, scoring 16 points and racking up assists left and right as the Vikings held on to an early lead.

“We need to keep him on the floor longer,” said head coach Robert Sanders of Wilson. “His stamina is coming around.”

Vidalia jumped out to an early first half lead and appeared to have Tensas right where they wanted them to put the game away, but the Vikings struggled to shut the door on the Panthers, allowing them to hang around.

“Overall, I think we did a decent job,” Sanders said. “I wasn’t pleased with the way we finished because we gave up too many points. That is something we need to work on.”

Vidalia led by 17 points heading into the fourth quarter, but Tensas wasn’t calling it quits.

The Panthers were able to rally and bring the deficit to single digits as late as 2:10 in the fourth quarter, but Wilson and company were able to keep pace in a high scoring fourth quarter. Tensas took the quarter 29-26, but it was Vidalia who secured the win.

The Vikings struggled against an up-tempo press from Tensas late, and Sanders said his team just wasn’t being patient.

“We weren’t as patient as we had been, and we just started rushing things,” he said. “Our third guard fouled out, and that didn’t help.”

Overton Lewis finished with a team-high 17 points, and Wilson said he was happy to see his teammate have a big game.

“I’m glad he played how he did,” Wilson said. “This was one of his better games of the year, and I hope he keeps this consistency.”

Free throw shooting played a major role, with both teams getting into foul trouble early. Sanders said that impacted the way he approached the game on the offensive side of things.

“We knew they were in foul trouble, and we tried to take it to them as much as we could.”

Sanders said that he is pleased with how the season has started, but knows that there is still plenty ahead of him and the Vikings.

“I think that we are doing well,” he said. “But we have a lot of work to do.”