West Lauderdale High School junior Mallory Thompson tries to navigate around a Kemper County High School defender during their game Thursday at Kemper County.

DE KALB —John Dale’s put-back layup at the buzzer gave Kemper County High School an emotional 79-77 overtime win over West Lauderdale High School in boys basketball action Thursday night.

The bruising 6-foot-6 post player bullied his way into perfect position to haul in Gus Nave’s miss off the iron and softly laid the ball through the net to send the Wildcat bench and fanbase into a crazed celebration. Dale finished the game with 23 points, 20 rebounds, four steals and three blocked shots.

“I knew I had to go get it (the rebound); I had to score,” Dale said. “I knew my team had to win, so I had to put all my heart into it. It comes from deep inside of me; I just never give up on a play.”

Nave appeared to have given Kemper (8-2) a win regulation after swishing a 3-pointer from the top of the arc with three seconds to play. However, West Lauderdale’s Stone Fielder connected on a desparation half-court heave to send the game into overtime. Nave led the Wildcats with a team-high 24 points.

“I thought it was over,” Nave said. “When it went into overtime, that’s why we put in all that hard work. This is crazy; I have never been a part of something like this. It was just a great game.”

Then trailing by three in the waning moments of the extra period, West’s Zack Merrell connected on a 3 from the wing to tie the game and set up the game’s final play.

“We lost but we became a better team (Thursday),” West Lauderdale coach Duran Clark said. “Our two 3-pointers were by sophomores. This time last year, they were playing B-team, and our guys realized if they battle and stick together, we have a chance in our district.”

With the win, the Wildcats extend their winning streak to eight games and avenge a 57-43 loss earlier loss at the hands of the Knights.

“It was a great job by my guys,” Kemper County coach John Alan Darnell said. “We’re an experienced team and they were daggers (West’s 3-point makes), but the boys just dug deep. They played a lot of minutes; I had three starters with four fouls, and we were fortunate nobody fouled out. It was just a lot of heart by my guys, and I’m just so proud of them.”

West (5-6) managed to control a 32-28 advantage at the half, but a 25-point third-quarter outburst put Kemper ahead by five heading to the fourth.

“We had some defensive lapses in that quarter,” Clark said. “But we fought back, and I’m proud of them. We realize now we can’t have defensive lapses, but we also realize we’re never out of the game.”

Dale was the catalyst in third quarter as the big man scored 11 of his points in the period.

“It was hard work,” Dale said of the competitive nature of Thursday’s tilt. “You had to go get it.”

Fielder and Shunewa Merrell each poured in 21 points for West, while Michael Washington chipped in with 15 points.

Dimitri Wren added 11 points for Kemper County.

West will host Nanih Waiya High School Saturday, while Kemper travels to Philadelphia High School.

“(West) is a good team, and they played well,” Darnell said. (Merrell) is a heck of a player and (Washington), those two are some of the best players I’ve seen all year. I’m so proud of guys. This a great building block; it was a playoff-like atmosphere. … Adversity makes you stronger, somehow we found a way to win (Thursday). We made one more play than they did.”

WEST RACES TO WIN

A 17-2 spurt bridged between the third and fourth periods proved to be the difference for West Lauderdale High School as it topped Kemper County High School 47-30 in girls basketball action Thursday night.

Trailing by one late in the third quarter, Mallory Wooldridge connected on a 3 from the win to put her squad back ahead and the Lady Knights never looked back.

“We just had great defense,” West Lauderdale coach Matt Lum said. “I think we kind of wore them down, and we made some big plays on defense. Maggie (Wooldridge) made some great steals, and when we’re playing great defense it allows us to go on runs.”

Maggie led the Lady Knights with 16 points and 14 rebounds,

“This was a pretty big win. I feel like we all worked together, and we’re a big family,” Maggie said. “We all worship God together, and He gives us the abilities that we have. My team is my family and we have such a good family atmosphere.”

While Maggie did most of her damage from the perimeter, Mallory Thompson controlled the inside for West Lauderdale. The junior post player finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and three steals.

“She was physical down inside,” Lum said. “And Deshea Hunt came in and got some key rebounds late. Just a pretty good defensive effort.”

Kemper County (3-7) trailed for the majority of the first 22 minutes of the game before taking a 25-24 lead late in the third. However, the Lady Wildcats were unable to sustain the momentum they developed.

“We just stopped scoring,” Kemper County coach Jennie Vance said. “We stopped running our offense, and we couldn’t score.”

Kiandrea Cherry had 11 points to lead the Lady Wildcats. Mercedez Jackson chipped in with five points, but managed to pull down seven rebounds. A’Tea Watson also had 10 points.

“Mercedez gets after it all the time,” Vance said. “Cherry, I think, is the fifth leading scorer in (MHSAA Class) 3A. She can score like crazy. And they’re scrappy and play hard on defense.”

West led at the half 18-13.