MONTICELLO — Defense wins championships, while offense putsfans in the stands. If the Lawrence County Cougars continue to playalong those lines, then head coach Bobby Lee’s team will go a longway in the postseason.

Cougar center David Clark established a new career-high, tossingin 42 points to lead his team to a hard-fought 64-58 Tuesday nightwin over a stubborn Jackson Jim Hill Tiger squad.

The Jim Hill Lady Tigers used suffocating, pressure defense tobury the Lawrence County Lady Cougars 54-37.

Lawrence County hosts Terry Friday in a Division 6-4A test. Thetripleheader gets underway around 4:45 p.m. with a JV boys,followed at 6 and 7:30 by the varsity girls and boys game.

Lawrence Co. 64, Jim Hill 58

Clark, a 6-foot-6 senior, previously sacked 41 points in a NewYears’ Eve win over Brookhaven.

Jim Hill (10-10, 3-2) came into this game as one of the best3-point shooting teams in the state. The Tigers, coached by FredHarris, had made as many as 23 treys in a single game thisyear.

Lawrence County (17-2, 4-1) is known for its patented man-to-mandefense. The Cougars held the green-and-gold clad Tigers to only 63-pointers on the night, with 4 of those coming in the secondhalf.

“Our perimeter defense defended well tonight,” said Lee. “Weknew coming that Jim Hill would shoot the three.”

The Cougars established the tempo early as they opened the gamewith an 11-0 run. Clark was responsible for those 11 points. JimHill got on the board with 1:04 left in the first quarter on abasket by reserve forward Tony Hobson but the Tigers still trailed13-4 entering the second frame.

Harris’ team began to chip away at their deficit, thanks to theshooting efforts of Flawaan Flaggs. He drained a pair of treys inthe second (8 points), as Lawrence County carried a 28-20 deficitinto the halftime locker room.

Flaggs continued his prowess by scoring 7 of his 20 points inthe third. Hobson added 6, as the Tigers trailed by 4 points, 46-42heading into the final stanza. Clark tallied 16 points in theperiod.

Hobson scored 9 of his team-high 23 in the final 8 minutes. Hislast basket of the game trimmed the Cougar lead to a point, 48-47,with less than 2 minutes left on the clock.

That would be as close as the Tigers would get. LCHS guardJustin Middlebrook sacked consecutive 3-point baskets to spearheadan 8-0 run to push to the Cougar lead back to 9 points, 56-47.Middlebrook finished the game with 12 points, 2 blocked shots, 2steals and 8 assists.

Lending support for the Cougars were Justin Lewis with 11rebounds. Ray Collins had 3 steals and 6 assists.

Jim Hill 54, Lawrence Co. 37

The Lady Tigers (10-9, 3-2) used a variety of defenses to forgea 10-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Lawrence County (4-14, 2-3) got a scoring surge from RoneshaGarner, Cortoya Barnes and Jasmine Courtney. The Lady Cougars,coached by Jennie Vance, saw a 29-28 deficit at the halftimebreak.

Jim Hill, coached by Jackie Ross, used the third frame to pushtheir advantage to double-digits. A 13-3 quarter run by the LadyTigers, gave Ross’ team a 42-31 lead entering the final 8 minutes.Hill forced the Lady Cougars into 13 of their 30 turnovers in thethird.

Nickethia Williams led Jim Hill with 13 points, followed byNeaisha Anderson with 12. The Lady Tigers had 19 steals and dishedout 11 assists.

Lawrence County got a game-high 16 points, 7 rebounds and 3assists from Garner. Barnes tossed in a season-high 10 points, 7rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Cassandra Johnson dished out 2assists.

Ninth Grade Action

Lawrence County defeated Tylertown 31-18 in a rescheduled 9thgrade boys game. Brandon Middlebrook and Marcus Wallace ledLawrence County with 7 points apiece.