JACKSON — There was no consolation prize for Vicksburg and no win either as a physical Yazoo City team bulldozed past the Gators 43-34 Friday night in the consolation game of the Division 3-4A tournament at Callaway.

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Tuesday, 7 p.m. – Vicksburg at Pontotoc or Shannon

Just a night ago, the Gators were eight minutes away from securing a home playoff game in the North State 4A satellite round. Now, after back-to-back losses, Vicksburg (19-9) faces a daunting task of having to upset the champions from Division 1-4A on the road Tuesday night. Pontotoc or Shannon will be the destination for the Gators, who are struggling to find any offense.

In three games at the division tournament, the Gators scored a total of 127 points, a paltry average of 42.3 per game.

Yazoo City coach Archie Carlyle could tell something was amiss with the Gators. Vicksburg had beaten his Indians in the two regular season meetings, including a 60-58 win on Feb. 3.

“Vicksburg played like they were let down. They are usually a much tougher team than what they had tonight,” Carlyle said. “I know how good they can be.”

The Gators were coming off a tough 52-48 loss to Ridgeland on Thursday night. They were up 11 with two minutes to go in third quarter when the offense fell apart with seven fourth-quarter turnovers and missed shots.

A cold shooting start buried the Gators against Yazoo City (18-12). Vicksburg made just one of nine shots in the first quarter while Yazoo City hit nine of 15. The result was a 19-4 lead for the Indians after one quarter.

“We dug ourselves a big hole and when Carlyle gets a good lead like that, he’s going to hold the ball out,” Vicksburg coach Dellie C. Robinson said.

Carlyle did just that, instructing his guards to just wait on the pressure from the Gators. The extended defense then allowed an easier path for the ball to get into 6-foot-9 widebody Demarco Cox. Jontavious Sutton is the usual Indian go-to-go guy but the 6-8 forward did his damage with eight points in the first quarter.

Cox hit two free throws to give the Indians a 21-4 advantage. Vicksburg finally got going after a couple of baskets by Kelsey Howard and a 3-pointer from Jeremy Squire in a 9-2 run that pulled the Gators back to within 10 at 23-13. It was 25-15 at the half.

Cox, who had a game-best 21 points, continued to own the lane and added two more baskets in the third quarter as the Indians maintained their 10-point advantage.

“We just got pushed around and their big guys had their way with us,” Robinson said.

Down eight with two minutes left, Mychal Ammons got a 3-pointer to drop to make it 37-32. Cox scored off after Yazoo broke the Gator fullcourt press. Squire answered with a shot from the corner to pull Vicksburg within five at 39-34 with 1:37 to go.

Vicksburg appeared to get a break when Sutton missed the front end of a one-and-one with 57 seconds left. But Howard was short on a 3-point attempt and the Gators would not come any closer than five. Bradley Lawyer hit four free throws in the final 30 seconds to ice it.

Howard led Vicksburg with 10 points and Ammons had nine. Squire ended with eight.

Sutton had 10 points and 10 rebounds to help out Cox.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com.