The Loyd Star boys’ basketball team met their Jackson Liberty Road counterparts from West Lincoln on Friday in the first Region 7-2A matchup of the season for the county rivals.

The Bears from West Lincoln haven’t beaten their Lincoln County competitors from Loyd Star since a 58-54 win in January of 2020.

Earlier this month, West Lincoln beat fellow Region 7-2A competitors Amite County 47-28 and a week prior to that, the Trojans from Liberty had beaten Loyd Star 39-34 on their home court.

Any hopes of breaking the streak for the Bears were dashed early on Friday though, as bad turnovers led to easy baskets for the Hornets and a 61-45 victory for Loyd Star in a game that they only trailed once when the score was 4-3 for the Bears.

The first quarter felt like it took an hour to complete as the teams combined for 13 fouls, three jump balls, one technical foul and a bushel of turnovers. Loyd Star led 15-12 after the opening quarter.

A quick 6-0 run to start the second quarter had West Lincoln coach Jay Case calling for a timeout as the Hornets got one score each from senior Xavier Vaughn, sophomore Brayden Richardson, and senior Braxton Williams during that offensive surge.

The Hornets and coach Rusty Newman ended up outscoring the Bears 22-10 in the second quarter to build a 38-22 halftime lead.

Case started senior guard Amias Smith, senior guard Dereon Eley, sophomore guard Daquavion Lewis, sophomore guard Maddux Johnson, and senior guard Jai Fells on Friday. Newman countered with senior guard Ethan Smith, senior guard Eli Thornton, junior forward Anthony Humphrey, Richardson and Vaughn.

With Fells fouling out of the game in the first half, Case went to his bench and got a spark from some of the substitutes placed into the game after Loyd Star surged ahead.

Senior Cevonte Lewis came off the bench to score nine points for the Bears while junior Larry Hilson added six points and eighth grader Lee Fells scored two points.

Using some full-court pressure to start the fourth quarter, West Lincoln went on a 6-0 run and took advantage of some lazy passes by Loyd Star to cut the Hornet’s advantage to 51-40.

Newman called a timeout, reinserted some of his starters, and watched his team then build their lead back to the final score.

Eight different Hornets scored as the win moved Loyd Star to 8-8 on the season. Leading the way was Vaughn with a team high 16 points for Loyd Star.

Ethan Smith scored 10 points, junior Graham Smith added eight points and Williams finished with seven points. Humphrey added six points as did Richardson while Thornton scored five points and junior forward Bryson Banks rounded out the LS scoring with four points.

Eley from West Lincoln was the top scorer in the game, finishing with 17 points. Maddux Johnson scored seven points and Jai Fells added two points while Amais Smith scored three points.

West Lincoln sits at 11-11 overall after the loss.

Loyd Star will get a chance to split the season series with Amite County when they host the Trojans on Friday, Jan. 24. West Lincoln will hope to end that long losing streak to the Hornets when Loyd Star visits Flea Hop on Jan. 27.