MURFREESBORO - The Community Vikings ended their District 12-AA regular season with their seventh-consecutive win and a tie for first place in the standings as the Vikings used a swarming defense to defeat the Central Magnet Tigers 48-38 Friday night.

Community (17-7, 8-2) never trailed but could not be comfortable with its lead until the final quarter as the Tigers refused to go away.

"We mixed and matched our defenses tonight," Coach Robbie Davis of the Vikings said. "We extended out and said we're not going to give up the three. If they shoot it, it's going to be contested."

Evan Petrie scored four points as the Vikings got off to a quick start and led 8-2 just over a minute into the game. Points were hard to come by the remainder of the quarter as the Vikings could only manage one field goal. Community led 10-7 heading to the second quarter.

Jackson Bailey netted five points and Petrie added four as the Vikings took a 17-11 lead with 4:38 left in the quarter.

Central Magnet battled back to score five consecutive points and cut the Community lead to 21-18 at the intermission.

Stratton Lovvorn and Will Reed each scored four points as the Vikings stretched their lead in the third quarter.

Community led 29-26 with 54 seconds to play but scored the final four points, punctuated with a field goal by Petrie at the buzzer to give the Vikings a 33-26 advantage.

Bailey scored seven points and Reed added four as the Vikings started to pull away in the fourth quarter.

Community led 35-30 before going on a 6-0 run to increase its lead to 41-30 with 3:17 left. The Vikings took their biggest lead at 48-34 en route to the district win.

Bailey had 17 points and Petrie added 12 to lead the Vikings.

Corey Greeson led Central Magnet with eight points as no Tigers reached double figures.

The Vikings were 10-of-12 at the free throw line while the Tigers were 3-of-6.

With their length on defense, the Vikings altered several Central Magnet shots throughout the game. Community held the Tigers to 38 points for the second time this season.

"This is one of the toughest places to play," Davis said. "Their student section is outstanding. It makes it really tough on the visiting team. It's a little smaller gym so everybody's on top of you just a little bit."

"This is the one team we've played more than anybody in this district," Davis added. "Counting this game, us and Magnet have played 12 times in four years. We're pretty familiar with each other."

The Vikings look to ride their seven-game winning streak with success in the district tournament.

"Momentum is great. We're heading in the right direction," Davis said.

"It's every coach's goal to be playing your best right now going into this tournament."

"We've suffered seven losses this year and all of them were two or three points," Davis added.

"I think that's toughened our guys up so when games get tighter, they've learned how to win those games."

After the result of a coin flip, the Vikings received the number two seed for the District 12-AA tournament.

Community was scheduled to host the winner between Nolensville and Forrest in the district semifinals this week, however inclement weather has forced the game to be postponed.

A date had not been set by press time on Wednesday.

Community 10 11 12 15 - 48

Central Magnet 7 11 8 12 - 38

Community: Jackson Bailey 17, Evan Petrie 12, Will Reed 8, Stratton Lovvorn 6, Jacob Cooper 5, Maki Fleming, Emery Smith, Noah Newkirk, Corey Paterick, Trace Broiles, Braxton Thompson, Jacob Flanagan.

Central Magnet: Corey Greeson 8, Jayden Hernandez 7, Elijah Conard 6, Gage Swanson 4, Avery Lambert 4, Alex Perry 5, Isaac Smith 2, Will Becker 2, Sebastian Carmona, Mason Brown, Kyle Messerly, Mac Martin, Alec Ingraham, Jake Maddox.

3-Point goals: Community (4): Bailey 2, Petrie, Cooper; Central Magnet (1): Hernandez.

Halftime score: Community 21, Central Magnet 18.