On Monday night, the Cornersville Middle School Bulldogs (8-4) extended their current winning streak to four games by pulling out a thrilling 37-36 overtime victory over the New Prospect Tigers at home.

New Prospect had defeated CMS 39-19 in their previous encounter on Oct. 24, but the Bulldogs stood their ground in Monday's contest and held a 16-15 lead at halftime prior to opening up a 26-20 advantage at the end of the third quarter.

After the Tigers rallied to seize a 32-30 lead late in the fourth quarter, CMS forward Kolbe McMahon hit a runner with :10 left in regulation to send the game into overtime tied at 32-32. The Bulldogs then outscored New Prospect 5-4 in the extra session to earn a split of the season series.

Laid it on line

"This is a big win. I told my team that we had made strides since we played them last and to lay it on the line tonight," said Cornersville coach Gerard Randolph. "I knew we would give them a better game tonight because we had improved in several areas."

Hindered by a 2-of-13 effort from three-point range, the Bulldogs shot only 33 percent (15-of-45) from the field overall and hit just 5-of-19 free throws, but CMS outrebounded New Prospect 35-25 and a held a 14-8 edge on the offensive glass.

McMahon led Cornersville with 10 points, 13 rebounds, and six steals, while Darien Bush and Eli Woodard both tallied eight points with Bush pulling down 13 rebounds. Cameron Whitaker also notched seven points for CMS and Cody Umbles and Will Vanhooser chipped in three and one point respectively.

The Tigers finished with 15 field goals on 33 percent shooting as well, which included a 1-of-9 effort from three-point range, while making 5-of-11 free throw attempts.

Andrew Heath and Dustin Gage paced New Prospect with eight points apiece and Logan Coleman added six points. Hayes McNutt and Jett Beasley tallied five points each for the Tigers as well, while Justin Harvey and Cameron Huson both had two points.

Catching up

New Prospect raced out to a 7-1 lead midway through the first quarter before Woodard and Bush scored consecutive baskets to narrow the gap to 9-5.

After the Tigers tallied four straight points to open up an 11-5 advantage early in the second period, the Bulldogs put together an 11-4 run behind a Bush trey and four points apiece from Whitaker and McMahon to take a 16-15 lead into the break.

New Prospect outscored CMS 5-3 through the first three minutes of the third quarter to pull ahead 20-19, but Cornersville rattled off seven straight points thanks to a pair of baskets from McMahon and an Umbles three to claim a 26-20 advantage at the end of the stanza.

The Tigers used an 8-2 spurt to tie the game at 28-28 midway through the fourth period before Woodard knocked down a jumper to give the Bulldogs a 30-28 lead.

New Prospect notched the next four points on a layup by Heath and two Huson free throws to pull ahead 32-30 with 19.8 seconds left, but McMahon raced down the court and hit a short runner in the lane to knot the game at 32-32.

Overtime

After Heath missed on off balance layup attempt on the Tigers' final possession of regulation, Bush and Woodard sandwiched a couple of baskets around two McNutt free throws to stake CMS to a 34-32 lead in overtime.

New Prospect then missed two three-pointers on their next possession before Vanhooser made one-of-two free throws with :13 left to extend the Bulldogs lead to 37-34.

Heath scored on an offensive put back to cut the deficit to 37-36 with :03 remaining, but Cornersville inbounded the ball and ran off the remaining time to hold on for the win.