The Forrest Rockets fought hard and battled throughout their district opener at Eagleville before prevailing in crunch time to garner a tight 46-42 triumph over the Eagles.

"It was a very important win for us," said Forrest head coach Wes Hobbs. "To go on the road in our district is always a challenge, but I really liked how the guys handled the ups and downs of a ballgame and showed the toughness to get it done."

Lucas Pruitt tallied a double-double for the Rockets, scoring a game high 12 points, while pulling down 11 rebounds, including his biggest board of the night on a rebound and put-back with 1:37 remaining in the contest, putting Forrest in the lead for good.

Tight fight

The road Rockets fell behind 8-4 early before a pair of Kennedy Mathis buckets in the paint tied the game.

Eagleville eked in front again by four points at 14-10, but the Rockets responded with a Jacob Daughrity basket, a Pruitt steal and score, and a buzzer beating three-pointer by Ty Hoeft for a 7-0 run to end the first quarter with a 17-14 lead.

Hoeft nailed two free throws to begin period number two, but consecutive buckets by Eagleville's Joseph Sewell cut the Forrest lead to a single digit at 19-18.

On their next two touches, Daughrity and Pruitt hit two free throws apiece, stretching the Rockets' lead to 23-18 until a Cameron Rudd three-pointer sliced the FHS margin to 23-21.

Will Edmondson tallied his lone basket of the night at the other end for the Rockets before the Eagles took off, scoring five straight points on a Brandon Kelley trey and an Andrew Tipton put-back that gave the home squad a 26-25 lead.

Comeback

Daughrity was fouled with just a few ticks remaining in the first half and hit one of two from the line, tying the game at 26.

Pruitt scored in the paint to kick off the second half and Mathis gave the Rockets another boost with a long three-bomb and the senior followed one possession later with a bucket in the paint, extending the Forrest lead to 33-26.

Eagleville scored five straight to cut the lead to two points before two trips by Daughrity to the charity stripe produced three points for Forrest, boosting their lead back to five at 36-31.

Pruitt and Sewell traded baskets in the paint near the end of the quarter, making it 38-33, entering the final eight minutes of action in Rutherford County.

Early in the stanza, the Rockets looked like they were in control, holding a 39-34 lead until Eagleville's Codi Majors drilled a three-pointer and followed with a jumper moments later that tied the game at 39 with 2:45 to play in the contest.

Eagles step up

Two Forrest miscues with the basketball led to a foul on Rudd, who stepped up and made one of two, giving Eagleville their first lead of the second half.

At the other end, Pruitt muscled in a rebound to seesaw the lead back to Forrest and Eagleville followed with a turnover.

Hobbs called a timeout after the Eagleville miscue and set up the strategy of getting the ball into the hands of his best foul shooters.

The Eagles fouled Hoeft, who drilled both ends of a one and one, putting the Rockets up 43-40 with less than a minute to go in the game.

A missed shot by the Eagles led to another one and one for FHS, but the Rockets could not convert with 31.8 seconds left.

The basket shrunk for the home team, who missed again and this time Hoeft made them pay, icing the game with two perfect foul shots that gave the Rockets a 45-40 lead.

Battle till the end

"We had to battle through some adversity again," said Hobbs. "We had a couple of turnovers and then some missed shots that let them back in the game, and you know that Eagleville is always going to play hard until the final horn."

Majors hit two free throws with 8.4 seconds left for Eagleville, before a Daughrity free throw ended the scoring and ended the game.

"Unlike a couple of previous games, however, we showed some maturity and finished the game strong," said Hobbs. "We made some important free throws down the stretch, and the guys did what it takes to win a ball game in district 9A."

Mathis, Daughrity, and Hoeft all finished with nine points apiece, while Blake Leonard had five points, and Edmondson tallied a deuce for Forrest (3-5, 1-0), who hosts unbeaten MTCS (8-0) on Friday night in Chapel Hill.