UNIONVILLE — It had been a tough start to the season as the Community Vikings had dropped three of their games by two points or less heading into Friday night's game with the Eagleville Eagles.
In a game full of ebbs and flows, the Vikings used their defense to retake the lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Eagles spoiled the night with a three-pointer in the final seconds to tie the game and went on to defeat Community 65-62 in overtime.
Community (0-7) started out blazing the nets in the opening quarter. The Vikings connected on five treys, with Stratton Lovvorn connecting on four three-pointers as the Vikings scored the final seven points and took a 22-10 lead to the second quarter.
The Vikings completed a 10-0 run to take a 25-10 lead before the Eagles started to cut into the Community lead.
Jacob Flannagan led the Vikings with six points as Community took a 36-27 advantage into halftime.
The Viking offense stalled in the third quarter as Eagleville got hot.
The Eagles used a 12-0 run and took their first lead at 41-40 with four minutes to play before taking a 48-42 lead to the final quarter.
"We challenged our guys at halftime to go out and finish," Coach Robbie Davis of the Vikings said. "We had lost three games by giving up last-second shots and we told them this is a great opportunity to get over the hump."
"We came out flat in the third and didn't play to win but more to keep from losing," Davis added.
With Lovvorn scoring nine points and Jacob Cullum adding six, the Viking offense started to get untracked as Community used a 9-0 run to take a 55-51 lead with 4:19 remaining.
After the Eagles scored five consecutive points to take a 56-55 advantage, the Viking defense came to the forefront.
Community used four steals in the final two minutes, including baskets by Lovvorn and Cullum after steals to take a 59-56 lead with 29 seconds left.
But the Eagles were able to deliver a dagger as C.J. Goers scored his only points of the game by connecting on a trey with six seconds left to tie the game at 59-59 and bring on overtime.
The Vikings struggled to find the basket in the extra period as Lovvorn's trey with 2:34 left tied the game at 62-62 and were the only points Community could muster.
Community still had a chance late after Eagleville went ahead. With the Eagles clinging to a 63-62 lead, the Vikings had two possessions in the final 26 seconds, but a miss and a turnover prevented the Vikings from taking the lead.
After two free throws gave the Eagles a 65-62 lead with two seconds left, the Vikings missed a three-point attempt at the buzzer as the Eagles took the hard-fought win.
Camden Cole scored 23 points to lead the Eagles.
Lovvorn led all scorers with 29 points while Flannagan added 16 for the Vikings.
"Now it's four losses by less than three points all at the end of games," Davis said. "We have to find guys who can finish games."
"Half the roster is sophomore and under so our youth and inexperience really shows down the stretch," Davis added.
"The guys are playing hard and giving great effort but we just have to execute better."
Community travels to Sycamore Tuesday night. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

Eagleville 10 17 21 11 6 — 65
Community 22 14 6 17 3 — 62

Eagleville: Grey Barker 10, Rhett Deaton 9, Jordan Reed 7, Isaac Gazaway 6, C. J. Goers 3, Camden Cole 23, James Bega 5, Kaden Snitzer 2, Brady Burns.
Community: Landon Lovvorn 29, Jacob Flannagan 16, Jason Cullum 7, Ramon Hernandez 2, Dallas Grooms, Cole Crockett 8, Corey Paterick, Emery Smith, Landon Berman.
3-Point goals: Eagleville (4): Cole, Deaton, Bega, Goers; Community (5): Lovvorn 4, Crockett.
Halftime score: Community 36, Eagleville 27.