CLINTON-The Murrah Mustangs defeated the Lawrence County Cougars 64-57 in boys’ high school basketball action, in Monday’s “Rumble in the South” at Mississippi College. Murrah outscored Lawrence County 24-14 in the fourth quarter to earn the win.

With the victory, the Mustangs, under coach Timothy Speech, improved to 6-11 on the season. Lawrence County, coached by Pat Bridges, fell to 11-8 on the campaign.

“I didn’t think we played very well,” said Bridges. “We did some good things, but I didn’t think we defended very well, and we turned the ball over too many times. That’s not a good combination.”

Lawrence County led 43-40 entering the fourth quarter. The Cougars twice held 5-point leads in the game. Murrah standout Eric Thornton scored 14 of his game-high 29 points in the fourth quarter, however, to pull out the win for the Mustangs.

Thornton led the Murrah attack with 29 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists. Damien Dear, the younger brother of Mustang football standout Malik Dear, finished with 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists. Pat Wigley had 11 points and 3 assists.

Gabriel Lewis hit four 3-pointers en route to a 14-point night. He also had 3 assists. Phillip Moore and Keith Davis each had 11 points. Keyshawn Feazell added 10 points and 2 blocked shots. Lane Rutland helped the Cougars to forge their first-half lead, scoring all 9 of his points in that period.

Feazell, Moore, and Rutland each had 3 rebounds. Murrah got the better of Lawrence County on the backboards, out-rebounding the Cougars 26-14. Murrah got 13 offensive rebounds.

“We didn’t have our usual energy today,” Bridges said. “I don’t know if it was because it was a day game on a non-school day, or what. That’s not an excuse-it was the same for Murrah. Hopefully, we’ll bring in tomorrow’s division game.”

Lawrence County travels to South Pike tonight for a Division 7-4A game. The girls’ contest starts at 6 p.m., followed by the boys.