PEARL — Warren Central’s D.J. Gibbs launched a half-court shot at the buzzer that banked off the backboard and through the net.

Instead of giving the Vikings a thrilling victory, however, it only served to make them think about all of the little things they’d done that denied it to them.

Warren Central erased an 18-point deficit in the second half, but faded in the last two minutes and lost 70-69 to Pearl in a boys basketball game Thursday.

“Layup shots and free throws got us tonight. We missed our share of them,” Warren Central coach Keith Williams said. “We played well. We’ve got new guys and we’re just trying to get them back into it. They came and did what we wanted them to do. We had an opportunity to win the game. Just down the stretch we found a way to turn it over.”

Warren Central (0-7) played its first game with a full roster as seven players returned from the football team. One of them, Roosevelt Harris, scored 16 points, and another, Micah Moore, had 11. Jaylon Winters and Larry Reynolds combined for 12 points.

Gibbs, a sophomore, led the Vikings with 22.

“That shows what we have, the character of the team and the make-up of the team,” Williams said. “Down the stretch, some of those guys coming off the football field usually don’t have their basketball legs. But we’ve got to be better. We’ve still got to make the layups.”

Basketball is a game of runs, and Thursday’s had several huge ones that swung the momentum back and forth like a pendulum.

Warren Central surged into the lead with a 15-1 run in the second quarter, then Pearl went back in front with an 29-2 run that spanned halftime. Jeremiah Daniel hit two 3-pointers to help the Pirates take a 56-38 lead with two minutes left in the third quarter.

Daniel finished with 12 points for Pearl (7-3). Kaden Arterberry led the Pirates with 20 points, and Jaden Leak scored 17.

Instead of letting the game slide into a blowout, though, the Vikings rallied again. They ripped off eight straight points to get back within 10 at the end of the third quarter, then continued it into the fourth. Gibbs made two free throws and then a 3-pointer to put Warren Central ahead 60-58 with four minutes to go.

With two minutes left, the Vikings’ magic started to run out. Daniel made a layup and Arterberry two free throws to put Pearl ahead 66-62 with 1:41 remaining.

Warren Central still had some fight left, though. Gibbs and Moore both scored to pull the Vikings to within two points, at 68-66, with 25.7 seconds left. Pearl’s Leak then dribbled the ball off his knee and out of bounds to give it back to the Vikings.

As they worked for the final shot, however, Reynolds was called for traveling as he drove into the lane with 5.4 seconds left. Daniel was fouled and hit two free throws on the other end for Pearl, and Gibbs banked in his half-court shot at the buzzer for the 70-69 final.

“We never did get in the set that we were supposed to be in,” Williams said of the final sequence. “But I was pleased — not with the losing, but with the effort. There’s some things we’ve got to correct and I think we can correct them before district.”