The Ridgeland Titans gave Vicksburg a harsh orientation to the world of Division 3-4A basketball on Tuesday night.

Justin Grace hit four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 22 points, and Desmond McCoy scored four of his six points in the final two minutes as Ridgeland beat VHS 59-53 in the division opener for both teams.

Jonathan Phelps led Vicksburg with 18 points and Maurice Williams added 11, but the Gators missed two chances at steals in the final minute and couldn’t overcome a 9-3 run midway through the fourth quarter that turned the game in Ridgeland’s favor.

“The last two or three minutes lasted a long time,” said Ridgeland coach Roderick Davidson, who served as an assistant at Warren Central in the 2000-01 season. “The kids fought hard, moved their feet and pulled it out.”

After 20 years in Class 5A, VHS moved down to 4A this season and landed in the toughest division in the state — arguably, on any level.

Tuesday night’s game was the first of a two-month, 14-game grind that will include a rematch with Ridgeland (12-2, 1-0) on Jan. 15, along with home-and-home series with heavyweights like Canton, Lanier and Callaway.

While the length of the schedule doesn’t make every game a must-win, the level of competition means the Gators (8-3, 0-1) need to improve before they hit the meat of the schedule. The loss to Ridgeland was Vicksburg’s second straight, by a total of 11 points.

“All of them are going to come down the stretch. All of them are going to be like this one and we’ve got to find a way to win these ballgames. Right now we can’t win close games,” Vicksburg coach Dellie C. Robinson said.

Vicksburg led by one entering the fourth quarter, and Ridgeland went on its 9-3 run early in the period to take a 51-46 lead with 5:21 remaining. It never trailed again. After the teams swapped a couple of baskets, McCoy tipped in a rebound for a 55-50 lead with 1:48 to go. A minute later, Phelps hit a 3-pointer and then came up with a steal, but VHS couldn’t convert the chance. Williams got another steal at midcourt with 30 seconds to play, but his pass to Phelps for a potential game-tying layup was a little long and Phelps stepped out of bounds as he tried to corral it.

Now forced to foul, the Gators hit a wall. They had only committed three fouls to that point, and ran almost 20 seconds off the clock while trying to put the Titans on the line. McCoy finally got to the line with 11 seconds to go and hit both ends of a one-and-one to make it 57-53. Grace added two more after a missed 3-pointer by the Gators’ Jaybri Williams for the 59-53 final.

(G) VHS 49, Ridgeland 44

The Vicksburg Missy Gators overcame 29 turnovers, poor free throw shooting, and a four-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter to somehow pull out a victory against Ridgeland.

Taylor Ammons had 14 points and 11 rebounds for Vicksburg (6-5, 1-0), Alexus Stirgus had 12 points and five assists, and Kamiko Martin had 11 points and seven steals. Amber Powe led Ridgeland (7-7, 0-1) with 20 points, but only scored four in the second half.

Vicksburg ended the game on a 14-4 run.

“At the end, the veterans stepped up,” Vicksburg coach Barbara Hartzog said. “At least they didn’t give up. They could have a couple times.”