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The Huntland High School Hornets lost to the Eagleville Eagles 70-69 at home Tuesday for their 13^th loss of the season.

The Hornets fell behind by double digits in the third quarter after a close first half, and a late rally came up just short in the final period of the district contest.

The teams traded the lead a few times in the opening period with a 3-point play from Braylen Phillips giving the Hornets an edge with about a second left in the quarter.

They led 22-19 after one quarter.

The Eagles took the lead back midway through the second quarter and would remain in front for the rest of the first half. Zeier Golden scored five of Huntland’s nine points in the second quarter.

The Hornets trailed 33-31 at halftime.

The Eagles scored the first 10 points of the second half to grow the lead to double digits for the first time as the Hornets were not able to make up much ground for the rest of the third quarter.

Huntland trailed 55-44 going into the final period.

The Hornets rallied to make it a one-possession game at seven different points in the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer from Golden making it a two-point game with 12.4 seconds to go.

However, the Eagles hit a pair of free throws after an intentional foul on their next possession to pull back ahead by four with six seconds left.

Phillips then hit a 3-pointer to bring the deficit down to a single point, but the Hornets were out of timeouts, and the Eagles were able to run out the rest of the clock without inbounding the ball as Huntland lost by one. Phillips scored 23 of Huntland’s 38 points in the second half.

Phillips led the Hornets with 29 points for the game, followed by Golden with 18 points and Lashawn Kimmons with nine.

Eli Wiggs scored eight points and Trace Kilpatrick scored five.

With the loss, the Hornets moved to 14-13 on the season and 5-3 in district play.

They will next play in the District 9A tournament next week at Cornersville High School. A schedule for the tournament had not been confirmed at the time of writing.