MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County High ninth-grade boys basketball team scored the first eight points in its game against Lowndes on Wednesday at the Gladys Espy Gymnasium, but ended up on the short end of an eight-point deficit.

Lowndes scored all of its points in the final three quarters in a 51-43 victory, a game in which the Vikings outscored the Packers 14-2 over the final 2:24 of the game.

The Vikings Adam Bignoni, who was the game’s high scorer with 16 points, had eight of his points in the final 1:56.

The loss drops the Packers freshman team’s record to 5-5. Colquitt will get a rematch with the Vikings on Saturday, Jan. 21, in Valdosta.

Colquitt led the game 8-0 after the first quarter and were up 17-14 at the half.

The Vikings kept pecking away and cut the Colquitt lead to just two points heading into the final quarter.

The game was tied at 23-23 before Lowndes took a 24-23 lead. Colquitt got its advantage back up to four moments later, but the game was tied again at 28-28 and 30-30 before Colquitt took a 41-37 lead when Eric Key grabbed a rebound and dribbled the length of the court for a layup with 2:42 left in the game.

But the Packers next score came with 10 seconds left and cut what was then an insurmountable Vikings lead to seven.

The Packers were unable to handle the Vikings pressure in the fourth quarter, leading to numerous turnovers.

Key led the Packers with 11 points. C.J. Copeland had nine, Jamiel Tyson had eight, Trendon Jones added seven and Brian Berl had six.

The freshmen will be back in action at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Tift County.

On Tuesday, the Colquitt County eighth-grade boys basketball team raised its record to 4-6 with a 51-26 victory over Lowndes at the Willie J. Williams Middle School gymnasium.

Jeremy Downs led the eighth-grade Packers with 19 points. Dominique Pressley added 14.

Lawhe Wingfield had eight, Derrell Ward added four and Trell Stokes and Davis Durham each had two points.

The Colquitt County eighth-grade teams will travel to Coffee today, with the girls starting at 4 p.m. The boys games will follow.

The seventh-grade teams will meet Coffee today at the Willie J. Williams Middle School gymnasium.

The girls will start at 4 p.m. The boys game will follow.

The seventh- and eighth-grade teams will meet Newbern next Tuesday in the final games before the South Georgia Athletic Conference tournaments.

The eighth-grade tournament will run Jan. 19-21 at Valdosta Middle School.

The seventh-grade tournament will run the same days, but at the Eighth Street Middle School in Tifton.