The Marshall County Tigers opened up District 12-AA play Tuesday at the Dottie Kelso Memorial Gymnasium in Lewisburg versus the number-10 ranked Community Vikings, got behind early and could never catch up in an 81-65 loss.

The Vikings had four players in double figures with Kobe Pride leading the way with a game-high 29 points, including a solid 9-for-13 effort from the free throw line.

Bryan Mitchell had 14 points, James Lane netted a dozen, and Tyrese Eady had 10 for the Vikings, who have only one loss on the season.

It was all Vikings to start the contest as Pride went to work in the low post, scoring eight early points in a 12-2 lead.

The Tigers responded with 3-pointers by Bryson Hughes and Kaamil Hazel to cut the Community lead to seven points before the Vikings pulled away again with a 12-0 run to lead 27-8 with less than a minute to play in the first period.

Hughes drained another 3-pointer to stop the run, but a William Reed buzzer-beater gave the Vikings a 29-11 margin after the first stanza.

Community kept building on its lead and after a Mitchell 3-pointer early in the second quarter, the Vikings had their biggest lead of the game at 40-13.

The Tigers kept scratching and clawing, but could only cut the deficit to 21 points on a late Hazel layup.

Marshall County got a huge boost in the third quarter from the sharpshooting junior Hughes and sophomore Omarion Alred.

Hughes, who nailed six 3-pointers and led the Tigers in scoring with 20 points, drilled three treys in the third period and Alred came off the pine and scored five, including a 3-pointer as MCHS cut into the Community lead and trailed by 13 points at 60-47, entering the fourth quarter.

Pride scored in the low post to begin the final stanza and Alred stayed hot with another 3-pointer for the Tigers.

After a Community missed field goal, Devonte Davis scored on a drive to the hoop to cut the Vikings’ lead to 12 points.

The play went back and forth for several minutes and after two Davis free throws kept the lead at 12, he fouled out of the game with 3:21 left in the contest.

A technical foul was added to the original foul call and the Vikings took advantage as Mitchell made 3-of-5 and then after taking the ball out, Mitchell was fouled again and canned two more charity shots to increase the leads to 73-56.

It was too much to overcome as the Vikings (18-1, 1-0) cruised to the win over the Tigers (5-8, 0-1).

MCHS travels to Giles County (2-7, 0-1) on Friday, while the Vikings make the trip to Forrest (1-15), who lost 51-35 at Murfreesboro Central Magnet School (8-9, 1-0) on Tuesday night.

Community 29 17 14 21-81

Marshall County 11 14 22 18-65

Community (81): Kobe Pride 29, Bryan Mitchell 14, James Lane 12, Tyrese Eady 10, Stratton Lovorn 6, William Reed 4, Elijah Pope 2, Evan Petrie 2, Thomas Bailey 2.

Three-Point Goals (3): Lovorn 2, Mitchell.

Free Throws (23-for-36): Pride 9-for-13, Mitchell 7-for-8, Eady 2-for-2, Lane 2-for-2, Petrie 0-for-1.

Marshall County (65): Bryson Hughes 20, Devonte Davis 12, Omarion Alred 8, Kaamil Hazel 8, Canelius Turner 6, Sikas Hurt 6, Carson Boyd 5.

Three-Point Goals (11): Hughes 6, Alred 2, Hazel 2, Boyd.

Free Throws (10-for-12): Davis 4-for-6, Hurt 2-for-2, Boyd 2-for-2, Hughes 2-for-2.

Halftime Score: Community 46, Marshall County 25.