The Forrest Rockets led at Fayetteville Friday night for each of the first three quarters before fading in the fourth period in a tough 59-46 loss.

"We came out and played an excellent three quarters," said Forrest head coach Wes Hobbs. "We said before we got out there if we kept the game in the fifties that we would have a chance and we did that, but in the fourth quarter we sort of got out of what we wanted to do."

It was a back and forth affair from the outset before Fayetteville gained an upper hand to lead 10-8, but the Rockets came back at the end of the period on a three-pointer by Will Edmondson and a late bucket by Ty Hoeft to take a 13-10 lead at the end of the first eight minutes.

An Aaron Parks basket for the Tigers kicked-off the second quarter and Michael Parks followed with a three-pointer to put the home team up 15-13.

From there, the lead exchanged hands seven times in the seesaw affair, but once again, Forrest surged late on a Hoeft jumper and a three-point play in the paint by Lucas Pruitt to take a 30-26 halftime lead.

Fayetteville came right back to begin the third quarter to tie the game and neither squad would give ground until Hoeft broke a 39-39 deadlock on a successful free throw with 31.4 seconds remaining in the quarter, giving the Rockets a one-point lead, entering the final eight minutes in Lincoln County.

Early in the final period, a Michael Parks tip-in gave the Tigers a 44-40 lead before Colton Cook followed with a tip-in of his own at the other end for the Rockets.

The Tigers held the ball in an immobile state for the next minute before calling a timeout with 5:00 remaining in the game.

Michael Parks came up big again for the Tigers after the stoppage, scoring on a three-point play the old-fashioned way to make it a 47-42 contest.

Kennedy Mathis scored to make it a three-point game and after a Fayetteville miscue, Jacob Daughrity nailed two free throws, slicing the Tigers' lead to a single digit at 46-46.

Moments later, the Rockets had a chance to take the lead, but two missed free throws spoiled the opportunity.

That would be the last chance for the Rockets as Fayetteville (8-3, 4-1) turned on the after burners, going on an 8-0 run to end the game.

"I told the guys after the game that I was proud of their effort and I think they played hard the whole time," said Hobbs. "I think there are a lot of things from this game that we can build on, there is a lot we can work on, but there are also a lot of positives we can take as well."

The Rockets (5-8, 2-1) were led in the scoring column by Lucas Pruitt, who scored 15 points and got hacked the entire contest.

Edmondson and Hoeft had seven points apiece, Mathis and Daughrity put up a half dozen each, Blake Leonard netted three, and Cook finished with two points to round out the Forrest scoring.

Michael Parks ended up with 18 points, James Keith contributed 17 points for the Tigers, Aaron Parks had 14, Nicolas Hopkins scored eight, and Cain McWilliams netted two points.

The two squads will meet again in a late season match-up on Jan. 28 in Chapel Hill.

"Every team plays with confidence at home and they did that here and we get them another time at our place," said Hobbs. "I told the guys we are going to have more games under our belt at the point and I think we are better than we were three weeks ago, it's a process, and I think when we play them, we will be better than we are now."