The FMS Rockets were playing their best ball of the year coming into the second round of the Duck River Valley Conference Tournament at Middle Tennessee Christian School Wednesday night, but a poor shooting performance on the Rockets' part was magnified by the hot-handed Cougars, who knocked off Chapel Hill 46-23.

The last time the two teams met at Forrest, they played to a 2-2 first quarter tie and it was much of the same on Wednesday as the number six-seeded Rockets and third-seeded Cougars split 12 points evenly.

MTCS' Jagger Goins, who led all scorers in the game with 12 points, knocked down the first basket of the second quarter and Braeden Jobe followed with another field goal for the Cougars.

Max Kirby got Forrest back on the board with a basket before MTCS pushed out to a 14-8 lead.

CJ Sanchez, who led the Rockets in scoring with seven points, broke the Cougar mini-run with a jumper in the lane, but four straight points gave the home team an eight-point lead.

On the final play of the second period, Forrest's Cole Perryman was fouled attempting a 3-pointer and subsequently made two-out-of-three from the foul line, making it an 18-12 ballgame at the half.

At the outset of the second half, it was the Brock Culpepper show as the Cougar backcourt player went wild, scoring all nine of his points in a row, while Forrest scored none, giving MTCS a back-breaking 27-12 lead.

The Cougars went on to score eight additional points in the pivotal third period and Perryman scored the lone four points for the visiting Rockets, who were mired in a huge 35-16 hole, entering the fourth quarter.

Goins knocked down back-to-back buckets to begin the fourth quarter as the game was finalized before the two coaches sent in the reserves.

Deason Jones nailed the lone 3-pointer of the game for the Rockets (8-9) in the final period, who will take an early Christmas break before travelling to Cannon County Middle School on January 6, 2017.

Forrest 6 6 4 7-23

MTCS 6 12 17 10-46

Forrest (23): CJ Sanchez 7, Cole Perryman 6, Andrew Timmons 4, Deason Jones 3, Max Kirby 2, Blake Burnham 1

3-point goals (1): Jones

Free throws (4-for-10): Perryman 2-for-4, Sanchez 1-for-2, Burnham 1-for-2, Kirby 0-for-2

MTCS (46): Jagger Goins 12, Jack Howell 10, Brock Culpepper 9, Andrew Adams 6, Aleric Watson 5, Braeden Jobe 2, Drew Stephen 2

3-point goals (2): Howell 2

Free throws (8-for-11): Watson 3-for-4, Stephen 2-for-2, Adams 2-for-2, Culpepper 1-for-1, Goins 0-for-2

Halftime score: MTCS 18, Forrest 12