NATCHEZ — Despite an early lead, the Huntington boys basketball team needed quite a push to defeat Chamberlain-Hunt 64-61 at the Prairie View Tournament Thursday.

After the Hounds had an early 18-point lead, Chamberlain-Hunt pushed the game into double overtime.

“I felt like we let up a little bit and lost our edge,” said Huntington coach Nicky Perry. “We let them back in the ball game. Once they got back in the ball game, they had all the confidence, and we were like the ones trying to hang on then.”

Both teams scored 4 points in the first extra period, but Huntington’s final push of 5 points overcame Chamberlain-Hunt’s 2 to win the game.

“The guys stepped up,” Perry said. “We made some clutch baskets at the end and made a couple defensive stops at the end that turned the game our way.”

The Hounds had just seven players after Jess Dossett went out with a sore back.

Tyler Peré and Kevin Brown scored 19 points apiece to keep Huntington in the game.

“Kevin Brown hit some clutch 3-pointers, and he did a good job on defense also,” Perry said. “Peré just did his thing, scored a few here and a few there.

“Jeremy Randall, my point guard, he did a real good job running the show tonight. I need to give him a lot of credit for that.”

Huntington girls 38, Franklin Academy 31

The Lady Hounds led by one point in the first quarter but scored just one bucket in the second quarter to fall behind early to Franklin Academy.

“Tonight the girls came out real flat,” coach Nicky Perry said. “I didn’t see any intensity in the beginning of the game. I don’t believe they were focused and ready to play.”

But a second-half defensive move gave Huntington just what it needed to get back in the game at the Prairie View Tournament Thursday.

“At halftime I told the girls, ‘We can win this game but we got to play ball. I want us to go out and press,’” Perry said. “That changed the game for us.”

The Lady Hounds went ahead by 2 in the third quarter, and Perry attributed a 13-point swing in the second half to his team’s full-court press of Franklin Academy.

Julie Moak scored 8 and Kristen Havard and Abi Brown scored seven each to lead the Lady Hounds.

“Sometimes you just got to shake things up a little bit and try something different,” Perry said of the defense. “I just thought we needed something to give us a spark.”