After pulling out a thrilling 52-49 victory over Meridianville two days earlier, the Lewisburg Tigers won another nail biter on Thursday night when they defeated Spring Hill 43-41 at home to earn a split in the season series with the Generals.

Spring Hill had beaten LMS 43-34 in their previous encounter on Nov. 4 and appeared they would get the better of the Tigers again after building a 25-12 lead early in the third quarter.

Lewisburg, however, came storming back and used a 28-12 run to seize a 40-37 advantage late in the fourth quarter.

Final points

The Generals then pulled back ahead 41-40, but the Tigers tallied the final three points of the game on three free throws from point guard Caleb Fields to escape with the victory.

Spring Hill shot 51 percent (18-of-35) and knocked down 5-of-11 three-point attempts, but missed all nine free throws while LMS forced 17 General turnovers with the help of their full court press.

"I think our press gave us some energy in the second half and it got them out of their normal rhythm. It was a team effort. To play great defense it takes all five guys playing together and we did that in the second half," said Lewisburg coach David Lovell. "I think we're comfortable in tight situations now and can relax and do what we need to do to win the game."

Hindered by a 1-of-15 effort from beyond the arc, the Tigers shot only 33 percent (16-of-49) from the floor, but made 10-of-15 free throws and committed just seven turnovers. Lewisburg also held a 10-6 edge on the offensive glass despite being outrebounded 29-22 by Spring Hill overall.

Fields' night

Fields was the driving force behind LMS' comeback, as he poured in 27 of his career high 29 points in the second half to go along with eight rebounds and five steals. K.J. Johnson followed Fields with eight points, while Kamron Liggett-Hightower and Wesley Walker chipped in four and two points respectively. Grant Agnew failed to score for the Tigers, but recorded four rebounds and four steals.

Justin Oden paced the Generals with 14 points, while Alex Harrison added nine points. Dontae Smith, Nathan Pipkin, and Noah Mayes notched six points apiece for Spring Hill as well.

Lewisburg grabbed an early 2-0 lead on a layup by Fields, but the Generals dominated the rest of the first quarter and closed the stanza with a 14-2 run to pull ahead 14-2.

After the Tigers outscored the Generals 8-2 through the first 2:14 of the second period with the help of four points from Johnson to narrow the gap to 16-10, Spring Hill rattled off seven straight points to open up a 23-10 advantage before taking a 23-12 lead into halftime.

Catching up

Oden hit a layup at the start of the third quarter to give the Generals a 25-12 advantage, but Fields put Lewisburg on his shoulders and singlehandedly outscored Spring Hill 12-3 over the next three and a half minutes to slice the deficit to 28-24.

The Generals tallied seven of the next nine points to stretch their lead to 35-26 early in the fourth period before LMS responded with a 14-2 spurt behind 10 points from Fields to grab a 40-37 advantage with 1:47 left.

Oden scored two straight layups to put Spring Hill up 41-40 before Fields hit two free throws with :17 remaining to stake the Tigers to a 42-41 lead.

After two teams exchanged turnovers, Fields intercepted a Generals inbounds pass prior to being fouled and making one-of-two free throws to stretch Lewisburg's lead to 43-41.

Smith then missed a long three-pointer on Spring Hill's final possession before LMS ran off the remaining time to preserve the win.