COLUMBIA — The Adams County Christian School Rebels saw their season come to an end Tuesday night in the first round of the MAIS Class AA South State Tournament at Columbia Academy.

But it wasn’t just because of what Central Hinds Academy did. It was because of something ACCS could not do — make its free throws. The Rebels ended up missing 19 free throws and that proved to be costly as the lost to the Cougars 57-46.

“We were 4-for-23 from the line. You lose by 12, you’re not very thrilled about it,” ACCS head coach Rick Fife said. “I was thrilled about how our players battled. We were down by two in the third quarter. We had our opportunities in the fourth quarter, but we didn’t take advantage of them.”

One player for Central Hinds who took advantage of his opportunities was Hunter Welch. Welch made three 3-pointers to help the Cougars pull away from the Rebels. He finished with a game-high 19 points and Blake Rutland added 14 points.

“We played good defense on him (Welch) and had a hand in his face and he still stroked them,” Fife said.

The Cougars took a 19-14 lead over the Rebels at the end of the first quarter and stretched their lead to six points, 32-26, at halftime. But for some reason, both teams struggled to get the ball in the basket in the third quarter. ACCS outscored Central Hinds 8-6 to cut the Cougars’ lead to four points, 38-34.

Unfortunately, the Rebels could not overcome their struggles at the foul line to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The Cougars outscored them 19-12 in the fourth quarter for the 11-point win.

ACCS, which finished with a 12-11 record, was led by Daniel Guedon with 17 points and James Moffett with 13 points.

“I think our seniors laid a good foundation for next season. We’ll have a young team next season. We’re losing seven seniors out of 12 players,” Fife said.

Franklin County 52,

Amite County 43

HAZLEHURST — In a game that was much closer than expected, the Franklin County Bulldogs rallied from a first-quarter deficit to defeat the upset-minded Amite County Trojans Tuesday night in the first round of the MHSAA Region 7-3A Tournament at Hazlehurst High School.

Franklin County played like anything like the No. 3 seed in the first quarter and wound up trailing sixth-seeded Amite County 12-5 at the end of the quarter. The Bulldogs still trailed at halftime, but by only three points, 23-20.

The Bulldogs finally took the lead late in the third quarter and led 36-35 heading into the fourth quarter. They finally put away the Trojans with a 16-8 advantage over the Trojans in the final quarter.

Milton Griffin led Franklin County (12-7) with 18 points and Derek Bethley scored 14 points. The Bulldogs will take on No. 2 seed Wilkinson County in a semifinal game Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

Wingfield 67, Natchez High 50

TERRY — Darius Forrest ended up with 17 points and Daveon Slaughter scored 11 points to lead a balanced scoring attack for Wingfield as the Falcons defeated the Natchez High Bulldogs Tuesday in the first round of the Division 6-6A Tournament at Terry High School.

Shelton Willis added 10 points and Cory Louis contributed with nine points for top-seeded Wingfield, which outscored fourth-seeded Natchez High 23-13 in the third quarter to take a 41-35 lead after struggling offensively in the first half to trail 22-18 at halftime.

The Falcons put the game completely out of reach with a 26-15 advantage in the fourth quarter.

Trevon Chatman led Natchez High (10-16) with a game-high 20 points. Derrian Johnson wound up with 12 points and Javon Washington finished with 10 points.

Block 56, LaSalle 42

OLLA, La. — Fred Green scored 13 points and Preston Bowman added nine points as the Block Bears got past the LaSalle Tigers Tuesday night in a District 3-1A game.

The unique thing about this game was that Block outscored LaSalle 14-12 in three of the four quarters. The only quarter that did not occur was the third quarter, when the Bears outscored the Tigers 14-6.

Derrick Johnson led LaSalle with a game-high 15 points and Ben Beckley had 12 points.

Block (12-10, 7-2) hosts division-leading Tensas High for Senior Night this Friday night in the regular-season finale.

Avoyelles 80, Vidalia 65

MOREAUVILLE, La. — Justin Wilson and Jocquez Fiels combined to score 52 points as the Avoyelles Mustangs defeated the Vidalia Vikings Tuesday night in a key District 3-3A game for both teams.

Vidalia was looking to stay within striking distance of first-place Marksville and a win would have done just that. But with the loss, the Vikings fell into a tie for second-place with Avoyelles at 7-2.

Wilson led all scorers with 31 points while Fiels scored 21 points. The Mustangs also took advantage of a huge discrepancy in free throws attempted. Vidalia took just seven free throws while Avoyelles shot 30 free throws. The Mustangs broke open a close game with a 30-20 advantage in the second quarter and made sure the Vikings were not able to get a rally going in the second half.

Vidalia (13-11 overall) was led by D.J. Polk with 24 points and Tri McCoy with 12 points. The Vikings play at Buckeye today.

Claiborne Academy 64,

Tensas Academy 25

RAYVILLE, La. — Tensas Academy saw its season come to an end Tuesday night at the hands of the Claiborne Academy Rebels in the first round of the MAIS Class A South State Tournament at Riverfield Academy.

The Chiefs didn’t have any answer for the Rebels on this night. Led by Oliver Willis and Ray Malone, District 7-A champion and second-ranked Claiborne Academy (25-1) took an 18-6 lead and never looked back.

Willis had 19 points while Malone had 14 points. Tensas Academy was led by Josh Sikes with nine points and Farrel Keahey with five points.