For the second straight day, the Cornersville Bulldogs (2-7) put up a tough fight against a quality opponent, but were once again unable to come away with a win, as they suffered a heartbreaking 58-57 loss to the Community Vikings (9-6) on Friday night at the Community Christmas Classic.

Having defeated Cornersville 67-40 in their lone encounter last season, the Vikings held a 48-36 lead late in the third quarter of Friday's contest before the Bulldogs stormed back and sliced the deficit to 55-54 with :37 left.

Close call

Cornersville, however, couldn't complete the dramatic comeback and came up empty on their next two possessions while Community hit three free throws to extend their lead to 58-54 before hanging on for the one-point victory.

"The guys played hard and I was proud of them because they fought the whole way through," said Bulldogs coach Gerard Randolph. "I think we're starting to gain confidence. Community beat us by 27 points last year, but this time the guys were bright eyed every time they came to the sideline and believed they could win."

Cornersville shot only 35 percent from the field overall, but knocked down 5-of-12 three point attempts, outrebounded the Vikings 31-29, and held a 9-5 edge on the offensive glass.

Scoring binge

After averaging 22 points per game his last three outings, point guard Tate Lowery continued his recent scoring tear and led the Bulldogs with a game high 22 points to go along five steals and three assists. David Looney followed Lowery with nine points and Wes Meadows tallied eight points. Stone Riner also added six points, while Brian Lowe and Tyler Lowery both chipped in five points with Lowery grabbing 11 rebounds. Jamie Crowell rounded out the scoring for Cornersville with two points.

Despite hitting just 1-of-11 attempts from beyond the arc, the Vikings finished with 20 field goals on 44 percent shooting.

Community took advantage of their superior size in the paint, as the frontcourt trio of Tanner Simmons, Darion Pride, and Blake Fanning accounted for 37 of the Vikings' 58 points. Simmons paced Community with 14 points, while Pride and Fanning tallied 12 and 11 points respectively. Austin Cagle notched nine points for the Vikings as well and Luke Primm had five points.

Vikings take off

The Vikings got off to a strong start and built a 15-8 lead in the first quarter. Tate Lowery hit a runner early in the second period to trim the deficit to 15-10, but Community went on a 12-2 run to forge a 27-12 advantage.

The Bulldogs then clawed their way back into the contest by outscoring the Vikings 16-9 over the last 2:52 of the half behind five points apiece from Lowe and Tate Lowery to narrow the gap to 36-28 before cutting the deficit to 36-30 early in the third period on an offensive put back by Tate Lowery.

Community used a 12-6 spurt to push their lead to 48-36 late in the third period, but Cornersville quickly counterpunched and rattled off nine straight points, highlighted by a Meadows trey and a three-point play by Tate Lowery, to close the gap to 48-45 early in the fourth.

Fighting back

The Vikings tallied the next five points to open up a 53-45 advantage before the Bulldogs put together a 9-2 run with the help of a Meadows trey and baskets from Riner, Looney, and Tate Lowery to whittle the deficit to 55-54.

Primm then missed the front end of a one-and-one with :24, but the Bulldogs committed a turnover on their next possession before Tyler Broiles hit one-of-two free throws to give the Vikings a 56-54 advantage.

After Looney missed a layup on Cornersville's ensuing possession, Simmons made two foul shots to stake Community to a 58-54 lead with :04 remaining. Tate Lowery then buried a trey as time expired for the 58-57 final.