VIDALIA — After starting slow, the Vidalia High School boys seemed to be back on track after a 21-point second quarter against Jefferson County High School Tuesday night.

But the Tigers roared late in the third quarter and carried the momentum into the final period. Jefferson County limited the Vikings to just eight points while tallying 16, and the Tigers came away with a 61-41 victory.

Jefferson County played well in spurts, head coach Marcus Walton said, but he added that he wants to see more consistency from his Tigers.

“We played tough in spots, but we’re having too many mental lapses,” Walton said. “We’re not staying focused for 32 minutes of the ball game.

“We’re very young. We’re starting two sophomores, two juniors and one senior. We’re just not doing the little things long enough.”

Vikings head coach Robert Sanders said his team has a lot of work to do, both offensively and defensively.

“There were spots where we just couldn’t score, even on the free throw line,” Sanders said. “We need to work on that more, and when we have opportunities to make layups, we have to make those.”

After leading 30-25 at intermission, Jefferson County scored the first six points of the quarter on field goals by Jarmell Anderson, Zachary McNeil and Nicolas Brown. Vidalia finally got on the board in the second half with a two-point basket by Trey Virgis with 4:56 to go in the period.

Jefferson County managed just two points in the next two minutes of play — a field goal by Dalvin Johnson — but Vidalia was unable to cut the Tigers’ lead to anything less than seven points.

Vidalia managed to make it 38-31 Jefferson County with 3:05 left to play thanks to a field goal and two foul shots by Michael Whitley, After that, the Tigers seemed to bust out of their offensive funk, scoring seven points to end the third and limiting Vidalia to two in the final three minutes of the period.

In the fourth quarter, Anderson led the way for Jefferson County, scoring nine of the Tigers’ 16 fourth-quarter points to put the game away.

Jefferson County opened the game on a 15-1 run, and Vidalia didn’t hit a field goal until 1:36 left in the first quarter when Trey Virgis sank a two-point basket. The score was 15-4 Jefferson County after one.

The Vikings were able to score 21 points in the second quarter, while the Tigers tallied 15.

Anderson led the game in scoring with 21 points for Jefferson County. Johnson added 12 points for the Tigers.

Whitley led Vidalia with 14 points, and Isiah Thompson finished with nine points for the Vikings.

Vidalia fell to 7-11 on the season, while Jefferson County rose to 6-7.

Jefferson County girls 49,

Vidalia 33

Brandy Buck had 15 points for Jefferson County and Keionne January added 11 as the Lady Tigers roared past Vidalia.

The Lady Vikings’ Nyishia Randall tallied 15 points, and Vidalia trailed 30-11 at the half.

Vidalia will host Sterlington on Friday, while Jefferson County will play at Crystal Springs Friday.