Trailing by 10 points with just five minutes left to play in the game, Block head coach Anthony Barber said he and his team were right where they wanted to be.

“My guys hustle and give me everything they’ve got all the time,” Barber said. “So when we were down in the fourth, that is right where we want to be. If we’re up, that is better than where we want to be.”

Unfortunately for the Bears, they ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard at the end of the game, falling to Franklin Parish 73-71.

Block rallied and was even able to take the lead, 71-69, with just over a minute to play, but every time the Bears seemed to make a push, Franklin Parish answered.

After Franklin Parish took a 72-71 lead, Block would get a shot blocked and was forced to foul.

When Franklin Parish missed the frontend of a one-and-one and the Bears grabbed the rebound, Block squandered their chances with a traveling violation with just 10 seconds left in the game.

Despite the loss, Barber said he wasn’t disappointed in the team.

“I’m always proud,” he said. “As long as they give me everything they’ve got.”

Raymond Plummer and Anthony Barber led Block with 19 points each, while Kendarius Jones added 14 and Vyn’Quez O’Steen chipped in with 11.

Jones was a major factor on the boards, as well as the scoring column.

“He’s got some sweet feet,” Barber said. “A lot of the time, we are trying to get it down inside or on the high post to him. We want to run, but when we’ve got to set our offense up, we want to get in down in the post to him so he can do what he does.”

While Jones’ ability in the post was a driving force for the Bears, the post was also their worst enemy in the game, with Franklin Parish outrebounding them by a significant amount.

“Coming into most games, they are going to be taller than us, so we just get in there and play with heart,” Barber said. “We have to box out a little better to put them on our backs, but once we do that, we’ll be all right.”

Block will take the floor twice today, first at 1:20 p.m. against Tensas, followed by a 5:20 p.m. clash with Sicily Island.