MADISON &045; For the first time in four tries the ACCS Rebels played their best ball against Hillcrest Christian.

But it came just a bit late.

The Rebels erased an early 13-point deficit and took the lead in the fourth quarter before dropping a 62-51 decision to the Cougars in the consolation game of the MPSA Class AAA tournament at MRA.

The loss puts the Rebels playing Leake Academy either Monday or Tuesday in the opening round of the MPSA Overall tournament.

&uot;It was just like we did in the Prep game (Friday),&uot; ACCS head coach Ricky Gray said. &uot;We started playing and playing well. We came back and played extremely well. We showed a lot of character and played well.&uot;

The Rebels were down 20-7 at one point in the third quarter before taking the lead with 4:00 left in the game. But the Cougars regrouped and took a seven-point lead with 1:19 left to get back control of the game.

The Rebels cut it to 56-51 with 46 seconds left, but the Cougars hit four free throws before tossing in two more to take the consolation victory.

&uot;We got the ball inside extremely well,&uot; Gray said. &uot;We started making some good entry passes. We played a lot better offensively in the fourth quarter. We penetrated well in the fourth quarter and found the open man. We did a good job of defending Walker Moeller in the second half. He had 37 last night.&uot;

Moeller and the Cougars started off strong with a 14-7 lead and opened the second quarter with a 6-0 run before taking a 29-18 lead at halftime as the Rebels finished the first half with 16 turnovers.

The Rebels then outscored Hillcrest 13-9 in the third quarter to cut the lead to 38-31 heading into the fourth.

&uot;I’m not sure what was wrong,&uot; Gray said of the slow start. &uot;I’m not sure if it was playing in the consolation game or what. We didn’t come out playing solid early. We kind of stood around, but around the 2:00 mark in the second quarter we started playing well.&uot;

Moeller led Hillcrest with 17 points. AC’s top scorers were Luke Ogden with 19, Dustin Case with 14 and Glenn Williams with 12.