After an 11-point loss at Nolensville on Friday night, the Forrest Rockets bounced back on Saturday at Chapel Hill, picking up their third win of the season with a 61-51 triumph over Lawrence County.

“It's great to be able to show the guys that we are improving,” Forrest coach Corey Bishop said. “The first time we played Lawrence County we lost 70-35, now we take a win by ten.”

“The guys are buying in and settling into their roles. We are attacking each day and game with the mindset of, how can we continue to improve?”

The Rockets fell behind early at Nolensville, trailing 15-4 after the first quarter before coming up with a big second period, outscoring the Knights 12-6 to get to within five points at the half, 21-16.

Nathan Foutch drilled a 3-pointer early in the third quarter to put the Knights up by nine points when the Rockets made a run.

Spencer McCown made two free throws and after a Nolensville missed shot, McCown scored on a backdoor play to cut the lead to 27-22.

The Knights could not convert at the other end and Cameron Curtis was fouled and went to the free throw line, making both shots to slice the deficit to three points.

Forrest could not sustain the momentum as Nolensville went on an 8-0 run to end the third period with a 35-24 lead.

The Knights held serve in the fourth period as they could not produce the knockout punch, leading by double digits for much of the period.

Forrest cut the margin to eight points on a couple of occasions, but they could not come up with a big run and fell by the 11-point margin.

Nolensville scored 25 points from the free throw line with Foutch making 14-of-16 from the charity stripe while leading all scorers in the game with 22 points.

Curtis led the Rockets with 13 points and McCown was also in double digits with 11.

“It was a tough game because we had several players who could not settle in to the game due to foul trouble,” Bishop said. “But, we were in the game the entire game, and we didn't allow the game to get away from us.”

“I was mostly proud of the attention to detail to the scouting report on the defensive end. We will be ready for them when they come back to our place.”

Unlike the night before at Nolensville, the Rockets played with the lead for much of the game versus Lawrence County on Saturday.

The Rockets led 11-6 at the end of the first quarter and 25-22 at halftime.

Forrest exploded in the third quarter, scoring 19 points while holding the Wildcats to just six points as they opened up a 44-28 lead entering the fourth period.

The Rockets made just four field goals in the fourth period and went 9-for-23 from the free throw line which was good enough to secure the win.

Curtis scored 19 points to lead the Rockets in the scoring column while McCown had 18 points and Joel Burton was also in double figures with 11.

Cole Perryman had six points, Hunter Bennett four, Walker Herring added two, and Andrew Timmons had one made free throw.

Curtis, Burton, and Perryman all had two 3-pointers apiece in the contest.

Luke Boswell had 13 points to lead the Wildcats in the scoring and Kaden Vaughn was also in double figures with 10.

“We have preached it all year, we want to be our best in the district tournament,” Bishop said. “We believe that no one is going to be able to match our effort and intensity for a 32 minute game.”

“I'm confident in knowing that we have the hardest working team on the court and behind the scenes at practice. It's about to get fun.”

Friday, January 24

At Nolensville

Forrest 4 12 8 18-42

Nolensville 15 6 14 18-53

Forrest (42): Cameron Curtis 13, Spencer McCown 11, Cole Villazon 6, Walker Herring 4, Andrew Timmons 2, Connor Lewis 2, Joel Burton 2, Hunter Bennett 2.

Three-Point Goals (1): Curtis.

Free Throws (13-for-18): McCown 5-for-7, Curtis 4-for-5, Villazon 2-for-4, Timmons 2-for-2.

Nolensville (53): Nathan Foutch 22, Keidron Batey 12, Ashton Smith 5, Chris Rooney 4, Max McAllister 3, Bryson Harris 3, Davin Watkins 2.

Three-Point Goals (6): Foutch 2, McAllister, Smith, Rooney, Batey.

Free Throws (25-for-33): Foutch 14-for-16, Batey 7-for-11, Watkins 2-for-2, Rooney 1-for-2, Harris 1-for-2.

Halftime Score: Nolensville 21, Forrest 16.

Saturday, January 25

At Forrest

Lawrence County 6 16 6 23-51

Forrest 11 14 19 17-61

Lawrence County (51): Luke Boswell 13, Kaden Vaughn 10, JD Bedford 7, Ty Cobb 6, Charlie Brewer 5, Mac Shultz 4, Kade Shultz 2, Gabe Coleman 2, Luke Nichols 2.

Three-point Goals (1): Vaughn.

Free Throws (7-for-15): Vaughn 3-for-3, Coleman 2-for-2, Boswell 1-for-2, Bedford 1-for-6, Cobb 0-for-2.

Forrest (61): Cameron Curtis 19, Spencer McCown 18, Joel Burton 11, Cole Perryman 6, Hunter Bennett 4, Walker Herring 2, Andrew Timmons 1.

Three-Point Goals (6): Curtis 2, Burton 2, Perryman 2.

Free Throws (21-for-43): McCown 10-for-16, Curtis 7-for-14, Bennett 2-for-2, Timmons 1-for-2, Burton 1-for-5, Cole Villazon 0-for-4.

Halftime Score: Forrest 25, Lawrence County 22.

District 12-AA Standings

Community (22-1, 5-0)

Nolensville (9-11, 4-1)

Marshall County (7-10, 2-3)

Giles County (4-9, 2-3)

Central Magnet (8-13, 1-4)

Forrest (3-19, 1-4)