CLINTON — Vicksburg High brought an emphatic end to its late-season losing streak.

The Gators scored the first 16 points of the game, then survived a second-half charge by Greenville-Weston to win 69-64 in the first round of the Division 3-6A Tournament on Tuesday.

DeAndre King and Romeo Carter scored 16 points apiece for Vicksburg (10-15), which snapped a six-game slide, advanced to Friday night’s championship game against Clinton, and earned a spot in next week’s Class 6A North State satellite game.

“It’s been coming. We’d lose by two, we’d lose by four, we’d lose by five, we can’t make a shot. I told the kids if you keep on working, it’s going to come. And boy, that 10th victory is sweet,” Vicksburg coach Dellie C. Robinson said.

Vicksburg hit seven of its first 10 shots while starting the game with a 16-0 run, went 4-for-6 from 3-point range in the first quarter, and never trailed. That doesn’t mean it didn’t have to work for the victory, though.

Greenville (20-6) got hot from outside in the second half, hitting 6 of 13 shots from beyond the arc to slash away at the deficit. Vicksburg answered with a short run or a couple of baskets every time the Hornets got within shouting distance. Carter hit a 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer to give VHS a 52-42 lead and Edward Davis’ basket with just over six minutes to go in the game made it 55-44.

“If you’re going to win, you’re going to have to make some big shots, and we made a ton of them,” Robinson said.

Javorian Lawrence then led one last Greenville comeback by hitting a 3-pointer and a jumper to cut it to 58-52. Another 3-pointer by Steve Suber and a putback layup by Nate Watkins made it 61-57 with two minutes left.

And that was as close as the Hornets got. Davis and Carter each hit a free throw, and Tre’Darius Carter dropped in a press-breaking layup to give the Gators a 65-59 lead with 39.7 seconds to go. Vicksburg hit a few free throws to extend the margin back to eight points in the closing seconds, before Watkins banked in a long 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Watkins finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots, while Lawrence had a game-high 25 points and seven rebounds. Davis finished with 15 points for Vicksburg, De’Angelo Richardson scored 10 and Tre’Darius Carter had nine points and seven rebounds.

“They’re veteran kids, and you could see in their face they didn’t want to go home. And then they started playing like they didn‘t want to go home,” Robinson said of Greenville’s comeback. “We’re a young team and made a few mistakes here and there. Tonight, we were just able to overcome it.”