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The Franklin County Rebels lost to the Fayetteville Tigers 77-74 in triple overtime on the road Friday for their 14^th loss of the season.

The teams were never separated by more than seven points in the back-and-forth contest as three extra periods would have to be played before the Rebels came up just short to close out their regular season.

The Rebels took an early lead by scoring the first four points of the game before the Tigers scored 10 straight to jump ahead midway through the opening period.

Franklin County trailed 14-10 after one quarter.

The score remained close throughout the second quarter with the teams heading into the halftime break tied at 22-22. Kai Baker scored eight of Franklin County’s 12 points in the second quarter.

The Rebels quickly took the lead to start the third quarter and remained in front through the end of the period.

They led 39-34 going into the fourth quarter.

The Rebels maintained a steady lead for most of the fourth quarter and held a six-point advantage with 33.5 seconds remaining in regulation before a 3-pointer and a layup in quick succession by the Tigers made it a one-point game with about 20 seconds to go.

Kenyon Fuqua hit a layup for the Rebels with eight seconds left to give them a three-point lead, but the Tigers quickly took the ball back down the court and hit a game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

The score was tied at 51-51 after four quarters.

The Tigers scored the first points of overtime on a shot with about 2:22 remaining in the four-minute period, but Baker responded by hitting a tying layup with about a minute remaining.

After a series of misses by both teams, Fuqua fired a half-court shot at the buzzer which banked off the backboard, hit the front of the rim and bounced out to send the game into a second overtime period tied at 53-53.

The Tigers once again scored first in double overtime and held a five-point lead with less than 30 seconds left before Baker hit a 3-pointer to make it a one-possession game with 18.7 seconds remaining.

Following a pair of successful free throws by the Tigers, Baker hit a layup to make it a two-point game once again, and Kaleb Rigsby stole the ensuing inbounds pass and hit a contested shot to tie the score at 64-64 with about eight seconds on the clock.

Baker was called for his fifth foul of the day moments later which sent the Tigers to the free-throw line and disqualified him from the rest of the game, leaving the Rebels without one of their primary scoring threats going forward.

Another two successful free throws from the Tigers gave them a two-point lead with 6.3 seconds left.

With the Rebels on the brink of defeat, Sam Vincent hoisted up a 3-pointer from the corner which didn’t fall, but Vincent was fouled on the shot with 0.8 seconds to go and hit two of his three free-throw attempts to force another overtime period with the score tied at 66-66.

For the third straight overtime period, the Tigers were the first team on the board, and they once again held a two-possession lead late in the extra period.

Fuqua gave the Rebels some life late in triple overtime as he hit a 3-pointer with seven seconds left to make it a three-point game.

A pair of missed free throws by the Tigers following an intentional foul gave the Rebels a chance to once again extend the contest with a tying shot, but a 3-pointer from Vincent in the final seconds wouldn’t fall as the Rebels lost by three.

Baker led the Rebels with 33 points for the game, followed by Fuqua with 14 points and Rigsby with 10. Baker hit five 3-pointers in the contest.

Vincent scored nine points and Ke’Andre Johnson scored eight.

With the loss, the Rebels moved to 12-14 on the season.

They will next play Tuesday at Coffee County Central High School in a semifinal game for the District 6-4A tournament. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.