After falling to tourney host E.O. Coffman the previous night, the Forrest Rockets (1-2) salvaged a third place finish in the Coffman Tip-Off Tournament by defeating the Ethridge Bulldogs 40-35 in the consolation finals on Saturday afternoon.

Forrest held a 21-19 lead at the end of the first half before opening up a 34-25 advantage early in the fourth quarter. Ethridge (1-2) then rallied to tie the game at 35-35 in the waning moments of the contest, but the Rockets outscored the Bulldogs 5-0 over the final :17 thanks to some clutch free throw shooting from Ty Hengesback and Dylan Jones to claim their first win of the season.

Jones' aim is true

Aided by a 6-of-9 shooting performance from Jones, the Rockets hit 15-of-42 shots from the field overall, which included a 1-of-7 effort from three-point range.

Jones led Forrest with a game high 14 points, while Jacob Rich and Daniil Yatskov tallied seven and six points respectively. Josh Brown also added four points and Hengesback and Dustin Breshear chipped in three points apiece. Dylan Watt and Alex Huey rounded out the scoring for the Rockets with two and one point respectively.

Although Ethridge outrebounded FMS 34-23 and held a 14-10 advantage on the offensive glass, the Bulldogs had trouble putting the ball in the basket, as they shot just 25 percent (8-of-32) from the field overall, made only 1-of-12 attempts from beyond the arc, and missed 22-of-40 free throws. Forrest also recorded 15 steals en route to forcing 28 Ethridge turnovers.

Austin Reeves paced Ethridge with nine points and 12 rebounds. Ben Wunner and Ben Staggs followed Reeves with eight and seven points respectively, while Spencer Tidwell notched four points. Reid Crews and Isaac Lopp chipped in three points apiece for the Bulldogs as well and Zach Womble had one point.

Early layups

The Rockets jumped out to an early 6-2 lead on the strength of three layups from Jones before Ethridge closed the first quarter with an 11-4 run to pull ahead 13-10.

After Jones sandwiched a pair of baskets around a Breshear three to give FMS a 17-13 lead early in the second period, the Bulldogs tallied four straight points to tie the game at 17-17.

Forrest then pulled ahead 21-17 late in the second quarter thanks to a offensive put back by Yatskov and a Watt jumper before Crews made two free throws to narrow the gap to 21-19 at the break.

Reeves hit one-of-two free throws at the start of the second half to trim the deficit to 21-20, but the Rockets put together a 13-5 run behind four points apiece from Rich and Brown to forge a 34-25 advantage with 4:02 left in the fourth quarter.

Scary moments

Ethridge then came storming back and outscored FMS 10-1 over the next 3:41 to knot the contest at 35-35 before Staggs stole a Rocket inbounds pass a few moments later.

Hengesback, however, saved the Rockets with a clutch defensive play and intercepted Staggs' ensuing pass prior to being fouled with :17 left.

After Hengesback hit the second of two foul shots to put Forrest up 36-35, the Bulldogs turned the ball over on their next two possessions while Hengesback and Jones each sank two free throws in the final 10 seconds of the game to seal FMS' 40-35 victory.