The Forrest Rockets remained unbeaten in district play, but needed a huge second half, plus two overtime periods to beat Moore County 66-59 in Lynchburg Friday night.

"That was huge and the guys needed it," said Forrest head coach Wes Hobbs. "I didn't say much after the game except that we gutted that one out when we had some calls go against us, but we battled through that adversity and that is what you have to do."

Forrest (4-7, 2-0) has now won six in a row over the Raiders (3-8, 1-3) and nine out of the last 10 meetings between the longtime rivals.

Tough district

"In our district, you have to get every game that you can, whenever you can and you don't care what it looks like," said Hobbs. "A win here is huge because they are so good here on this floor and they play with a lot of confidence."

Things did not start out well for the Rockets as they trailed 13-5 at the end of the first quarter and 26-21 at the halftime break.

At the outset of the third period, Forrest mounted a huge comeback, reeling off 10 straight points to take a 31-26 lead.

Jacob Daughrity began the surge with a steal and score and Kennedy Mathis ended the run with a bucket in the paint before Moore County finally scored on a Ryan Northcutt basket with 2:22 remaining in the stanza.

That would be the lone basket for the Raiders in the stanza.

Tight game

Mathis scored again and the period ended on a Ty Hoeft fast break basket, giving the visitors a 35-28 lead, entering the final eight minutes of play.

The Rockets would maintain their seven-point lead on a Lucas Pruitt bucket early in the period before Moore County came all the way back via a Dillon Davis basket, followed by six straight points by Northcutt, giving the Raiders a 38-37 lead with 4:10 remaining in the contest.

The lead would exchange hands six times before Moore County took a 46-43 lead on two free throws by James Dougherty with 31.3 seconds left in the battle.

Hoeft made it a one-point game on a one-handed floater in the lane with 23 seconds remaining and Hobbs called timeout.

Moore County bricked two foul shots, but Cole Boyce grabbed the rebound on the second miss and was fouled by the Rockets with 18 ticks left.

Boyce made the first and missed the second and at the other end, Forrest came up empty, but Mathis was there for the put-back, tying the game at 47 with zeroes left on the ticker, sending the game to overtime.

First OT

Early in the overtime, Daughrity scored on a swipe and score to give FHS a two-point lead, but Northcutt hit two free throws to re-knot the contest at 49.

Hoeft put the Rockets back in front with under a minute to play and Forrest had a chance to go up by more, but missed the front end of a one and one with 30 seconds left.

Moore County proceeded to turn the ball over, but so did the Rockets and the Raiders called timeout with 18.6 seconds remaining in the first overtime period.

Second OT

As time wound down, Boyce threw up a runner that went in and the crazy contest went to a second overtime period tied at 51.

Davis hit one free throw to begin the second extra time, but missed two more chances moments later and the Rockets made them pay as Daughrity scored to give FHS a 53-52 lead.

Then the play of the game took place when Moore County was whistled for a technical foul after Will Edmondson was fouled with 2:11 remaining in the game.

Edmondson stood alone at the free throw line and calmly drained three out of the four attempts to put the Rockets in front 56-52 and Forrest had the ball on the sideline.

"That was huge for Will as he came in and gave us big free throws there and that was the difference in the game because from there we put the game away," said Hobbs.

Final moments

Lucas Pruitt muscled in a basket to extend the Forrest lead to 58-52 before Davis hit two free throws with 1:30 to play, making it a 58-53 ballgame.

Hoeft would hit four out of four free throw attempts on the next two Forrest possessions, putting the nail in Raiders' coffin as the Rockets survived in the seven-point win.

Hoeft led all scorers in the ballgame with 23 points, while Lucas Pruitt and Daughrity were both in double figures for the Rockets with 11 points apiece.

Mathis ended up with eight points, Edmondson tallied seven points, Blake Leonard netted five, and Colton Cook had a single marker for Forrest.

Moore County also had three players in double figures as Northcutt scored 19, while Boyce had 11 and Davis finished with 10.