With 23 seconds left in the game, it was Luverne’s Darren Foster who made back-to-back layups, sealing a close 75-71 win over Brantley Saturday night.

The Luverne Tigers started off with a big 23-11 lead at the end of the first quarter as they showed quick action and hustle on the court.

At halftime, Brantley was only trailing by 10, as the Tigers still held on to a 37-27 lead.

But things began to turn around as a different Bulldog team came out of the locker room after halftime. With just 5:23 left in the third quarter, the Bulldogs had cut Luverne’s lead to one point, with a score of 44-43. Brantley’s Clint Free drove in for a layup that kept Brantley closing in on the Tigers, 52-51. However, Luverne’s Morrease Barber answered right back with a layup of his own, bringing the score to 54-51.

A three-pointer by Brantley at the buzzer ended the third quarter with the Bulldogs trailing Luverne 56-54.

The Tigers kept their lead throughout the fourth quarter, but the Bulldogs kept nipping at their heels all the way.

With 2:13 left in the game, the score was 68-66. Luverne’s Desmond Harrell drew a foul, and added one freethrow. Sophomore Morrease Barber added a layup, putting the Tigers up 71-66.

But Brantley’s Tevin Daniels hit just one of his six three-pointers for the night, closing the gap to 71-69 with just over a minute on the clock.

Bulldog Chester Person went up for a layup to tie the game 71-71 with 23 seconds left.

But it was Luverne’s Darren Foster who answered right back with a layup of his own, and as Brantley headed down the court, they turned over the ball, which was then passed back to Foster who quickly added another layup at the buzzer, sealing the win for the Tigers, 75-71.

The leading scorer for Luverne was Morrease Barber with 32 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists. Darren Foster had 11 points, and Desmond Harrell added 7 points and 7 rebounds. Rashad Cannon dropped in 6 points, pulled down 5 rebounds, and had 6 assists. Senior Ketric Jackson had 6 points, and Lonnie Freeman added 6 points and had 5 rebounds. Senior Jeremiah Leach added 5 points, and Robert Freeman added 2 points and 4 rebounds.

The leading scorer for Brantley was junior Tevin Daniels with 20 points and 5 assists. Of Daniels’ 20 points, he had 6 three-pointers.

Junior Torey Upshaw had 12 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, while Chester Person added 12 points also.

Devante Porter added 9 points, and Wesley Person had 8 points and 4 steals.

The Brantley Bulldogs are now 10-6 overall for the season, and 1-0 in area play when they beat Geneva County 80-48.