Vidalia — A combination of cold shooting and turnovers doomed the Vidalia Vikings from the start as the Sicily Island Tigers sneaked by Vidalia 46-45 Tuesday night.

Vidalia (5-1) defeated Sicily Island (7-3) 69-62 earlier in the season and looked to cruise to another easy win.

The Vikings were up 38-36 in the fourth quarter, but Sicily Island scored eight straight points to take a 44-38 lead.

With 58 seconds left in the game, Quatrell Thomas scored two for Vidalia on a lay-up and the Vikings were within one point of the Tigers.

After a Vidalia foul, Alex James went to the line and sunk two free throws to increase Sicily Island’s lead to three.

The Vikings pulled within one and found themselves with the ball with 36 seconds left.

An apparent intentional foul by Sicily Island wasn’t called by the referees and the Vikings scrambled to find an open shot. Unfortunately for Vidalia, the final attempt didn’t go their way and Sicily Island escaped with the win.

“We were cold shooting the ball tonight,” Vidalia head coach Robert Sanders said. “Once we regained the lead we gave it away too many times.”

Torrey Dixon scored 20 for Vidalia while teammate Quatrell Thomas added 8.

Karlos Gary led the Tigers with 16 points.

The Vikings will face the winner of Sicily Island and Tensas Parish this Friday in the Ronnie Brown Memorial Tournament at Vidalia.

Vidalia girls 71, Sicily Island 28

Thanks to a 23-point performance by Alaina Burns, the Vidalia Lady Vikings evened their record to 3-3 as they took an easy 71-28 win over the Sicily Island Lady Tigers early Tuesday evening.

Vidalia took an early 26-6 lead after the first quarter and cruised to a 55-16 lead at the half.

The Lady Vikings subbed in their second string for most of the second half and while holding Sicily Island to 12 total points in the half.

“We wanted to work on layups,” Vidalia head coach Damus Smith said. “We missed too many last time we played them.”

Burns led the Lady Vikings with 23 points while Erika Brown added 16.

Anjelica Branson scored 25 of the Lady Tigers’ 28 points.

The Lady Vikings will face the winner of Sicily Island and Tensas Parish this Friday in the Ronnie Brown Memorial Tournament held again at Vidalia.