The Vicksburg Gators played an odd little game of give and take with Canton on Tuesday night.

First, they built a 20-point lead only to watch it disintegrate in a matter of minutes. Then they built it back up, walked out of the gym with a 16-point victory, and left a packed crowd wondering if they’d ever been in trouble in the first place.

K.J. Murphy scored 25 points, Antonio Moore added 13, and the Gators sidestepped their third-quarter swoon to beat Canton 75-59.

Justin Selvy added 11 points and Tyler Smith had 10 for Vicksburg (5-1).

“We played so well for a while, then in the third quarter we went back to our old ways,” Vicksburg coach Dellie C. Robinson said. “If we get good guard play, we’ll be competitive. But we can’t have trouble handling the basketball.”

That was, in fact, what got the Gators in and out of trouble. They led by 18 points at halftime and extended it to 43-23 early in the third quarter. Canton then ratcheted up the defensive pressure and generated a series of steals and easy baskets.

A 14-0 run erased most of the deficit, and a 3-pointer by Demerious Wash got the Tigers within three, at 43-40 with two minutes to go. Wash finished with 18 points.

As quickly as the Gators lost their mojo, however, they snatched it back. Murphy and Moore each converted a three-point play in the final minute of the period to push the lead back to 52-42, and the Gators steadily pulled away from there.

By the 5-minute mark of the fourth quarter, the lead was back to 15 points. With 2 minutes left, it was 20, and all traces of the near-collapse were gone.

Robinson said the turning point was the back-to-back three-point plays by Murphy and Moore.

“That gave us momentum,” he said. “If they’d have gotten the lead, I don’t know if we’d have won, because they were playing so hard.”

(G) Canton 45, Vicksburg 30

After five good games, the Vicksburg Missy Gators were due for a clunker.

And boy, did this one clunk. And clank.

The Missy Gators shot 5-for-51 from the field — a putrid 9.8 percent clip — and committed 18 turnovers in losing their first game of the season.

“We tried two different defenses — a 2-3 and a 3-2. The defense was there. The offense wasn’t there,” VHS assistant coach Deborah Brown said. “I don’t know if it was something mental or us having the day off. Over the years, it seems like when we have a break (from school) are the games we lose.”

Karry Callahan led Vicksburg (5-1) with 21 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks, while Kashunda Williams scored 15 points for Canton (2-2).

Vicksburg’s poor offensive showing allowed Canton to open the fourth quarter with an 11-0 run that gave it a 42-20 lead with 3:53 to play.

The Missy Gators held Canton without a field goal the rest of the way, and did put together a 10-1 run of their own, but never got the deficit back to single digits.