CHAPEL HILL —The Forrest Rockets started the game with 14 unanswered points and withstood a late comeback attempt by the Community Vikings as the Rockets took a 61-51 victory in a District 7-AA basketball game Friday night.

Forrest (3-19, 2-3) used the hot hand of Bray McCown to gain the advantage in the opening quarter.  McCown connected on three treys as the Rockets used four three-pointers to take a 14-0 lead with 3:13 left.  

Community (1-22, 0-5) responded with the last seven points of the quarter as the Rockets took a 14-7 lead to the second quarter.

The offensive woes continued for the Vikings in the quarter as Community could only manage seven points while the Rockets increased their lead. 

Ben Villazon led the way with nine points as six Forrest players netted points.  The Rockets scored the final seven points and took a 33-14 lead into halftime.

"We came out strong and Bray McCown had a great night shooting the ball early and took a charge for us," Coach Shane Chapman of the Rockets said.  "Kind of set the tone for us early and our guys were able to hold on to it."

"We spent the last couple of days putting in an offense to attack the basket inside against their zone and our first eight shots were 3s," Coach Robbie Davis of the Vikings said. "This was not the game plan."

"Mentally, we froze and completely didn't execute what was asked of them," Davis added.

Landon Lovvorn scored six points as the Vikings started to heat up in the third quarter.  Mason Harper scored eight points for Forrest as Community outscored the Rockets 17-14 and cut the Forrest lead to 47-31 heading to the fourth quarter.

Lovvorn, Cole Crockett, and Jacob Flannagan each scored six points as the Vikings made a move in the quarter. 

Community was able to cut the Rocket lead to 10, but the Vikings could not get closer.  Davin Porter led Forrest with six points as the Rockets took the district win.

Harper and Porter each scored 13 points to lead three Rockets in double figures.  Villazon added 11 points.

Lovvorn netted 15 points to lead three Vikings in double figures.  Crockett scored 12 points while Flannagan added 10.

"At half, we went back over everything we talked about all week and outscored them in the second half, but it was too little, too late," Davis said.

"The kids played hard all night long," Chapman said.  "We had some little dry spells and we started trading buckets back and forth."

"I was okay with a 15-point lead to trade buckets with them," Chapman added.  "They went into a zone and 24 (Crockett) sparked a comeback."

"We were able to have enough in the tank to finish," Chapman added.

Forrest connected on nine treys while the Vikings had three.  The Rockets were 6-of-9 at the free throw line while Community was 4-of-4.   

"The guys moved the ball well," Chapman said.  "Still too many turnovers, but we can build on that."

"The mental side of the game is just not happening and we continue to miss shots that are just head scratchers game after game," Davis said. 

"You don't expect a high school team to miss as many layups and point blank shots as we do," Davis added.  "It's been like that all season long game after game and that won't win any games on any level."

Community travels to Central Magnet and Forrest visits Fayetteville for non-district games Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m.                                                                                    

Community    7    7  17  20 — 51

Forrest         14  19  14  14 — 61

Community: Landon Lovvorn 15, Jacob Flannagan 10, Ramone Hernandez 7, Jason Cullum 4, Moe Berman, Cole Crockett 12, Corey Paterick 3, Noah Watson, Emery Smith, Austin Stickler, Jaxon Williams.

Forrest: Mason Harper 13, Davin Porter 13, Bray McCown 9, Jimmy Bond 6, Ryan Meglis, Ben Villazon 11, Josh Rumley 6, Eli Bell 3.

3-Point goals: Community (3): Lovvorn, Hernandez, Paterick; Forrest (9): Harper 3, McCown 3, Porter 2, Villazon.

Halftime score: Forrest 33, Community 14.