DECATUR — Just when it looked like Newton County was going to let a key Division 5-4A slip way, senior Jalin Nicholson just wouldn’t let it happen.

The East Central Community College signee used his favorite play and hit a jump shot at the buzzer to beat Quitman 44-43 on Tuesday night.

With the win, Newton County improves to 17-7 on the year and 6-3 in 5-4A with a Thursday night matchup at Northeast Jones likely to determine the division championship. Quitman falls to 8-12 on the season and 6-4 in 5-4A play.

With the Cougars down by one with 9.8 seconds left to play, Newton County coach Harber called his star player’s favorite play, simply called “Jay.”

“I told them it didn’t matter whether how many free throws they hit, we were running Jay,” Harber said. “Basically, we were going to get the ball to Jalin and everybody was going to set a screen for him. I think that’s his favorite shot. I’ve seen him hit that shot a thousand times.

“I thought we had a good game plan for them and I thought we played a good defensive game. Quitman has a good team and hasn’t lost since we beat them. That’s a good basketball team. I was never comfortable with our lead. I knew it was going to get tight in the end.”

The game was tied at 6-6 with 2:41 left in the first when the Cougars scored eight straight points to end the period as Chris Mulford an an old-fashioned 3-point play and Jalin Nicholson drained a long-distance 3-pointer as County led 14-6 at the end of the first.

The Cougars pushed the lead to as much as13 points on back-to-back buckets by Mulford with the last coming at 1:56 left in the half to give the Cougars a 26-13 lead. The Panthers hit a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer to go into halftime down 26-16.

“I thought it was a tale of two halves,” Quitman coach Chris Coleman said. “We came out extremely flat. We just can’t handle success. We had our legs under us and just came out flat and didn’t play with any intensity. I’ll give Newton County and No. 10 (Nicholson) credit. That was a heck of a shot. He’s had big games against us since he was a 10th grader.”

After leading by 10 with 1:57 left in the third, Newton County seemed in control. That’s when Quitman got a steal and slam by John Lacey with 36.1 left in the third trailed 32-26 going into the fourth.

From there, Quitman outscored Newton County 14-3 and led 40-35 with 2:38 left to play. But Nicholson hit a 3-pointer with 2:15 left to cut the lead to 40-38. Three free throws by Quitman built the lead to 43-38 but the Cougars scored the games last six points to take the win.

Nicholson led Newton County with 18 points while Chris Mulford had 18 points. John Lacey led Quitman with 18 points.

NEWTON COUNTY 42, QUITMAN GIRLS 31 

The Lady Cougars outscored the Lady Panthers in every period as they took an 11-point win on senior night. 

Newton County led 10-9 at the end of the first period and outscored Quitman 11-6 in the second and led 21-15 at the half. The Lady Cougars were able to hold the lead throughout the second half as they outscored the Lady Panthers 9-6 in the third and 12-10 in the fourth.

Tiffany Wilson led Newton County with 13 points while Chelsea Giles added seven points. Lonnis McCoy led Quitman with 12 points. 

The Lady Cougars improve to 12-10 on the season and 7-2 in Division 5-4A play. Quitman falls to 5-16 on the season and 3-5 in 5-4A play.