Vicksburg completed its unlikely run to the Division 6-5A title by pounding away at crosstown rival Warren Central.

Seeded fourth out of four teams, the Gators claimed the division championship by beating the Vikings 78-72 before a packed house and then some at the VHS Gym. Spectators waited in vain outside the gym doors after the game became a sellout.

Friday’s win earns VHS (15-16) a home date with Hattiesburg on Tuesday night in a South State 5A playoff game. Warren Central (17-12) hits the road to Picayune, which ripped Hattiesburg 75-49 in the Division 5-5A final.

The key for the Gators, who beat the Vikings for the third time this season, was the inside play of Edwin Gaskin and Brandon Harper. The pair combined for 39 points.

“Their post game was excellent,” WC coach Jesse Johnson said. “They kept getting the ball inside and that got us in foul trouble.”

“We just took it to them,” said Gaskin who finished with 20 points. “Winning these last two games gives us a lot of confidence.”

VHS coach Dellie C. Robinson was appreciative of the effort shown by Gaskin and Harper.

“There was no question about it. Edwin had to play a lot of minutes because I had a hard time getting something from my bench guys,” Robinson said. “He got fatigued there in the fourth quarter.”

At one point, Gaskin missed four straight free throws and that helped the Vikings cut into an 11-point deficit.

“Yes, I was exhausted,” Gaskin said. “I couldn’t hit a free throw. But I guess I did make the main ones.”

The two big makes came with 1:09 left and gave the Gators a 72-68 lead. A basket by WC’s Shaun Walker made it 72-70 but VHS’ Sederick Williams answered quickly, hitting a pull-up jumper to keep the Gators up four with 30 seconds left.

WC’s Cody Grant missed a 3-pointer off an inbounds play, before a VHS turnover gave WC one more chance. Jula Pugh hit a shot to make it 75-72 with 12 seconds left.

Willis McGowan was quickly fouled and made one free throw to up the lead with 11.1 seconds left.

WC had three of its four post players foul out, which included leading scorer Chico Hunter who left with 58 seconds left.

“Getting Chico out was the big one,” Gaskin said. Hunter left with 17 points. Also fouling out were Quinton Jenkins and Mario Luckett, who had 12 points.

Vicksburg went to the line 46 times and made 27. Harper had 19 followed by Williams with 13 and Thomas with 11. WC made only 9 of 24 free throws.

“That hurt us bad. Fifteen missed free throws,” Johnson said.

WC’s full-court pressure got the game rolling from the start. During the first 14 minutes, there were eight ties, the last coming at 31-all.

Two free throws by Harper were followed by a pretty, layup from Williams to give VHS a 37-32 lead. Fred Thomas later hit two free throws after time had expired for a 39-34 halftime lead.

The Gators extended the lead to 11 at 50-39 in the first five minutes of the third quarter behind Gaskin. The forward scored nine of his 20 in the quarter. WC’s Russell Johnson, however, hit a three on the final play of the quarter to make it 55-48.

VHS went back up 11 at 67-56 with 4:45 to play. WC made its comeback on a pair of baskets from Andy Anderton and Walker to make it a four-point game at 70-66 with 1:48 to play.