FERRIDAY, La. – If the first night of the Ferriday High Hoops Invitational tournament taught fans anything, it’s that you shouldn’t judge how game is going to end until it actually does.

That is, if you only look at the games that didn’t actually include the host team.

Wilkinson County High and Block staged two battles that went down to the wire and Ferriday, well, they took care of business with ease.

Wilkinson Co. 60, Block 52

The Wildcats ran their record to 7-4, with the win but for a while, it looked as if the feisty Bears would come away with this one, building a slight bucket lead at the break and extending it to 13 early in the fourth before the ‘Cats woke up and decided to play ball.

&uot;We were very fortunate to come out of here with a win tonight,&uot; WCHS head coach Henry Story said. &uot;It took some big defensive stops down the stretch. I think we were able to wear them down.&uot;

Two of those came inside a minute when LaWarren Seiber blocked a pair of Bear attempts. Seiber also dumped in seven points.

Bryant Spiller paced the WCHS attack with 18 points, while Travis Dent came up with eight. A 22-6 outburst in the final frame fueled the win.

Jeremy Washington did it all for the Bears (3-6) with 30 points.

The Bears were hurt by 22 turnovers and 3-of-10 free throw shooting .

Block girls 78, Wilkinson 76

The Lady Bears built a big lead behind a dominating press and scrappy play from Dani McMillan, only to see it nearly slip away. McMillan torched the Lady Wildcats for 29 points, but after Block extended the lead to a 13-point bulge with five minutes left. But it was at that point that the Lady ‘Cats pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and embarked on a thrilling 15-2 run to knot the game at 71-all at the 1:30 mark of the game.

Latasha Williams sparked the rally with eight of her 14 points during that span. Samantha Sherman also went to work for WCHS 20 points, but in the end, it was just too much defense out of the Lady Bears.

&uot;Our girls thought they had it in the bag and sort of laid off them,&uot; Block head coach Veronica Savage said. &uot;we started watching them, and we weren’t hustling as much.&uot;

Catessa Branch poured in 20 for Block (4-4), many of those on free throws. Shaterrica Savage added 12.

The Lady Wildcats (4-7) hurt themselves with 23 turnovers and 30 fouls.

FHS girls 64, Sicily Island 27

Lisa Abron’s bunch never had any trouble in the day’s opener, bolting out to a 32-5 lead after the first quarter.

Monique Jones and Rosalind Johnson were again the architects of the win, going for 21 and 16, respectively.

Jones set the tone with 12 of her total during that span. Torisheka Taylor, Rashonda Leonard and Lashawnda Pryor all added seven for FHS (7-4).

&uot;It was good to let our bench players all get on the floor and get involved,&uot; Abron said.

Ferriday 70, Sicily Island 33

The nightcap was more of the same for the Trojans, who easily jumped out to a 20-5 lead. LaKendrick Nix and Christopher Watson each had 17 and Jackie Thomas and Marvin Harper both chipped in with 11, for FHS (7-4) who will face the Vidalia/ Wilkinson County winner Saturday.