NATCHEZ &045; Keyshun Tinsley felt sick.

It may have been physically, it may have been mentally or it may have been both. Tinsley and his Natchez High teammates suited up without three key cogs with forward Jeremy Houston out with an injury and Marvin Stampley and Rodney Gray out for disciplinary reasons after getting technical fouls in the Bulldogs’ last contest.

Things got tough quick against a good Ferriday team, but the Bulldogs just went back to what they’ve done well with those three in the lineup &045; play solid defense, work the offense inside-out and play hard.

The Bulldogs pulled it off with a 38-34 win Tuesday.

&uot;A couple of people felt sick,&uot; said Tinsley, one of the team’s six seniors. &uot;It felt like my stomach was hurting a little bit. Charles Cothern said he felt sick before the game. We just tried to get it inside. Our legs were too tired to shoot it from the outside, so we had to go inside.&uot;

The Bulldogs went inside to Tinsley a bunch in the fourth quarter and kept attacking Ferriday’s 1-2-2 zone defense the entire second half. On the defensive end, the Bulldogs held the Trojans to one shot just about every trip down the floor and picked up the intensity in the man-to-man defense.

The Trojans (17-6) hit just four field goals &045; two in each quarter &045; in the second half.

&uot;We were kind of down at first because they were not playing,&uot; said senior LaJuan Culbert, who knocked down two pivotal 3-pointers in the second half. &uot;But we’re a team, and we had to come through as a team. We had to do it without them. We tried to win the battle without them. They’re still without us, but we had to win the battle. We’re still together as one, and we’re still progressing.&uot;

There’s no determination whether the three players will be back Friday night for the Forest Hill game, but at least they have a significantly greater amount of confidence going in.

The Bulldogs (12-6) picked up the intensity in the third quarter and finally came up with some stops late when they held the Trojans to just two points in the final six minutes.

Culbert hit his first 3-pointer with 5:14 left to cut the lead to 24-23, but the Trojans got their lone basket in the stretch when Eric Crump scored on a putback just under a minute later. But the Bulldogs got a short jumper from the side from Michael Chatman over two minutes later and another from Tryon Wilson with 14 seconds left to take a 27-26 lead into the fourth quarter.

&uot;We had several opportunities down the stretch and couldn’t capitalize on the putbacks,&uot; Ferriday head coach James Davis said. &uot;When we have opportunities like that, we’ve got to capitalize. We went to the free throw line down the stretch and missed free throws.

&uot;I thought the kids played hard, but we didn’t make good decisions in the second half we were capable of making. When you play good ball clubs, they make you make bad decisions.&uot;

The Bulldogs kept with the tight man and even came out to the half-court line on defense while manning down low on missed shots.

At the start of the fourth LaKenyon Russ scored at the 7:16 mark following two free throws from Tinsley to put the deficit back at one, but Culbert nailed another 3-pointer at the 6:47 mark to put the lead at four.

The lead was the Bulldogs’ biggest of the game. Tinsley had eight of his game-high 15 points in the fourth quarter.

&uot;After the first half we kept our heads up,&uot; Culbert said. &uot;We came out and tried to pick up the intensity. We were getting good shots, people were blocking out and we were rebounding better. (The man defense) made them kind of nervous. They were used to playing zone. We changed our defense, and we came out with a victory tonight.&uot;

Chatman came with another bucket later to put the lead back at four after Ferriday got a basket from Crump, who led the Trojans with 12 points.

The Trojans then got a free throw from Charles Jefferson but missed out on opportunities afterward &045; a turnover on the next possession, a missed putback under the goal after the deficit got to five and a miss on the front end of a one-and-one with 55 seconds left.

Russ nailed a 3-pointer with 27 seconds left, but Natchez had a 38-31 lead at the time.

&uot;I think our big men did a good job in the first half on the block,&uot; Davis said. &uot;We didn’t make the shots we needed to make in the second half on the block.

&uot;The first half we limited them to one shot, but in the second half they were getting two or three opportunities. They really hurt us on the defensive end &045; the putbacks.&uot;

The Trojans did better down low in the first half and used a 6-0 run late in the second quarter to take a 22-13 lead. Jefferson’s layup on a fast break with 20 seconds finished the run, but Cothern’s basket with two seconds left put the score 22-15 at half.