The Forrest Rockets just missed breaking their losing streak in a close 45-44 loss to Murfreesboro Central Magnet School in the District 12-AA opener on Tuesday, January 12 before hosting Community Friday night.

The Rockets came out firing on all cylinders versus the Vikings, flying out to a 13-0 lead behind six points by Walker Herring in the low post, a 3-pointer from CJ Sanchez, and a rebound and put-back by Brennan Mealer.

Community finally got on the board with 2:12 remaining in the stanza via two free throws by Emery Smith.

Community’s Evan Petrie, who led all scorers in the game with 20 points, scored his first basket at the end of the first quarter as the Rockets led 13-4.

The Vikings went on an 8-2 run to cut the Forrest lead to two points at 15-12 before Herring scored again in the low post.

Petrie scored again before Hunter Bennett drilled a 3-pointer for the Rockets to make it a 20-14 contest and then the Vikings put together a huge 8-0 that was capped off by another Petrie bucket in the low post, giving Community their first lead of the game at 22-20.

Deason Jones hit both ends of a one-and-one situation from the free throw line to tie the game and Bennet followed with one more charity shot to edge the Rockets in front by one point, but a 3-pointer by Community’s Will Reid gave the Vikings a 25-23 halftime lead.

The Vikings came out of the halftime break on fire, going on an 11-2 run that included a pair of 3-pointers and a breakaway dunk by Stratton Lovvorn.

Bennett came up with another trey for the Rockets, but the Vikings took off on an 11-0 run to end the third period with a 47-28 lead.

The Vikings put the game away with a 7-0 run to start the final period and the Rockets only scored nine points the rest of the game in the 24-point loss.

Herring scored 15 points to lead the Rockets in the scoring column and Bennett was also in double figures with 12.

Lovvorn ended up with 15 points, Reid had nine, Jackson Bailey and Smith had five points apiece, Maki Fleming added three, and Jacob Cooper and Trace Broiles had a deuce for the Vikings.

Forrest (2-9, 0-2) came back with a great effort at Huntland on Saturday, falling 57-55 as the Hornets extended the Rockets’ losing streak to eight games.

Forrest had beaten Huntland 73-64 to open the season.

Community 4 21 22 14-61

Forrest 13 10 5 9-37

Community (61): Evan Petrie 20, Stratton Lovvorn 15, Will Reid 9, Jackson Bailey 5, Emery Smith 5, Maki Fleming 3, Jacob Cooper 2, Trace Broiles 2.

Three-Point Goals (4): Lovvorn 3, Fleming.

Free Throws (9-for-11): Smith 3-for-3, Cooper 2-for-2, Petrie 2-for-3, Bailey 1-for-2, Reis 1-for-1.

Forrest (37): Walker Herring 15, Hunter Bennett 12, CJ Sanchez 3, Deason Jones 2, Brennan Mealer 2, Bray McCown 2, Andrew Timmons 1.

Three-Point Goals (3): Bennett 2, Sanchez.

Free Throws (9-for-18): Bennett 4-for-5, Jones 2-for-2, Herring 1-for-5, McCown 1-for-2, Timmons 1-for-2, Mealer 0-for-2.