Twenty-five minutes. That’s how long Vicksburg trailed in its 60-59 playoff victory over Lake Cormorant on Tuesday before a crafty layup by Darius Johnson finally gave the homestanding Gators their first lead with just under seven minutes to go in the game.

Vicksburg advanced to the second round of the Class 5A state tournament. It will play at Canton Saturday at 7 p.m.

Things looked bleak for Vicksburg from the start on Tuesday, as Lake Cormorant took a 7-0 lead to start the game. Nothing seemed to be falling for Vicksburg, with a couple of 3’s by Jermiyah Brown keeping them within striking distance, but they were still down by 10 at the half.

Coach Kelvin Carter said his team was very upset, but told them they had to clear their minds and let the ball fly when they were open.

“I tried to tell them, you have to forget real fast and move on,” Carter said. “The shots we missed first half, that’s over, we have to concentrate on the next shot we get. The way (Lake Cormorant) was playing with that 1-2-2 zone, you had no choice to shoot. They were packing it inside, almost saying I dare you to shoot.”

From the start of the second half, Vicksburg came out firing and pulled the game back within its reach. Cameron Butler, who finished with 12 points, knocked down three 3-pointers to help cut the deficit, and entering the final quarter they were only down by one point.

“I was able to kind of calm the guys down, kind of let the guys know that you can’t get everything back at once, you just have to go one play at a time, and they bought in, that was a big thing,” Carter said. “I knew we weren’t going to shoot that bad the whole game. I knew that 21 was going to be able to knock some shots down soon, and they left him two or three times, that was beneficial to us. Our resilience just pushed us over the hump.”

Gregory Jenkins stepped up in the clutch, battling for boards and hitting some crucial free throws to finish with nine points and five rebounds. It was a big-time contribution that Carter said he’d been waiting on all season.

“He rebounded, and got to the rack, and was 7-for-10 from the free throw line and that was huge,” Carter said.

Johnson had perhaps the biggest impact in crunch time. He followed his go-ahead layup with a pair of free throws, and then went coast-to-coast for a steal and an emphatic slam on the other end. On the next offensive possession, he spun through the lane and kissed the ball off the glass for another two, and followed that up with another bucket in the paint. Johnson finished with 13 points.

The game wasn’t over yet, as an and-one layup by Lake Cormorant’s Michael Parker and a few key free throws cut the lead. The Vicksburg defense stepped up however, and held off a 3-point attempt that could’ve tied the game. Vicksburg fouled Lake Cormorant with just two-tenths of a second left, and Latavius Autman hit the first free throw before accidentally swishing the second attempt, ending the visiting Gators’ chance at a tip-in to tie the game and giving Vicksburg the victory.

In addition to Johnson’s 13 points, Ke’Darrion Parson and Kamari English both ht some clutch free throws. Lake Cormorant’s leading scorer was Autman, who finished with 18 points.

For Carter, it was important that his team got the victory one play at a time and didn’t rush things.

“No game is won in the first half,” Carter said. “This is a 32-minute fight in high school basketball, and the last 16 minutes were crucial for us. We edged bit by it, one play at a time, they still made a little mini run, but we withstood them, and we pulled together as a team.”