Area battles in overtime are nothing new for Pleasant Home’s boys.

Florala’s Austin McNeil drained two crucial free throws to send the game into overtime on Tuesday night, where the Eagles prevailed 53-50 in Wildcats Country.

“We’ve played three area games and won two of them (in overtime),” PHS coach Jerry Davis said. “So, it’s been nice. We’ve won several ball games now where Lance (Jerry’s son) hasn’t had to do the complete scoring.”

Davis said he felt like his team played solid defense during the night.

“We didn’t guard the (John) Bess kid well at all,” he said. “He probably had eight threes. We did everything we could other than just getting out there and tackling him.”

Bess led FHS with 24 points and McNeil had 15 points in the back-and-forth effort. Tamaris Jamison chipped in five points for the Wildcats.

Lance led PHS with 17 points. Troy Fantroy had 12 points, Ty Hammett had nine points and Jon Cole Chesser had six points.

Florala trailed by four points with 30 seconds left in the fourth period and after missing a few free shots, the Wildcats scored on a later possession and took a timeout with nine seconds to go.

“We set up and man-to-man press and got a five-second violation and got the ball back under out basket,” FHS coach Daniel Allison said. “We threw it in, got the foul and hit the free throws to tie the game (at 44-44).”

Allison said Pleasant Home made a last-ditch heave from half court, but the ball failed to go in.

In overtime, Florala missed a couple of shots down low that would’ve helped the Wildcats, Allison said.

“I can’t really explain it,” he said. “My guys played really hard. They just played a little bit harder and got the win.”

Allison added that Bess really came through for the Wildcats (1-2 in Class 1A, Area 2).

“He carried us through the game,” Allison said. “He was big for us tonight.”

Pleasant Home led 12-10 after the first period.

Florala outscored the Eagles (2-1 in area) 16-12 in the second period to lead 26-24 at halftime.

The third period hurt the Wildcats, Allison said.

“What killed us in the game was the third quarter,” he said. “We had two points in the third quarter, but we had a lot of effort.”

PHS outscored FHS 8-2 to take a 32-28 lead going into the fourth period.

Normally, the Eagles are good free-throw shooters, but that wasn’t the case in the game, Davis said.

“We just had an awful night,” he said. “It was back and forth. Nobody stretched anything out.

“We had to play the overtime without Fantroy. He did a tremendous job of rebounding.”

In B-team action, Pleasant Home edged Florala, 25-23.

In varsity girls action, PHS dominated in a 51-7 victory.

Jade Self had 20 points to lead the Lady Eagles. Raven Woods chipped in 15 and Ashley Williamson had 10 points.

Pleasant Home is back in area action on Friday night for its homecoming game against Kinston.

“All of the old alumni need to come out and support us,” Davis said about Friday.