There may not be a more entertaining game in the area this season, than the one witnessed by patrons that attended the Lexington-East Davidson throwdown Thursday evening.

Apparently, the near week-long delay had no effect on the two schools in a game that featured a little bit of everything. From rim-rocking dunks to sketchy officiating, the game had a championship atmosphere.

Lexington led by 13 early in the fourth quarter, but a refuse to lose attitude by the Golden Eagles allowed for a comeback that sent the game to overtime. In the extra session, the Yellow Jackets regained their swagger to win a thrilling 88-83 Central Carolina contest on the road.

“We played tonight like we believed we could win a conference championship,” said East coach Matt Jacobs. “There was no fear tonight, but we are not happy with a moral victory.”

East had to work its tail off to even force an overtime, then had the game in hand and let it slip away.

Not happy with the officiating and sensing his team needed a lift, Jacobs told his team he was going to get a technical foul. He did, leaving his team behind 13 late in the third quarter, but it seemed to work.

East whittled it down to nine at the start of the fourth quarter, setting itself up for a late run.

“I said I am about to get a technical and you are going to have to recover from that if they make the free throws and from that point on go out and get it done,” Jacobs said.

The momentum from the technical wore off, though, with Lexington going back up by 13 with 7:11 to go. Needing a second shot in the arm, Taylor Warren stepped up and delivered something special East fans have not seen since alumnus Justin Strickland’s playing days. After his short jumper and two free throws by Keaton Hawks, Warren lowered the boom. He stole the ball away near the midcourt line, scooped it up and raced in for a one-handed jam that drew a raucous reaction from both fan bases.

“That is a big momentum play and Lexington feeds off of it and we feed off of it,” said Jacobs.

East proceeded to make its charge, taking the lead for the second time in the game on a Blake Dodd steal and layup.

Free throws played into the outcome as the Eagles missed five of their last six at the line, giving LHS a chance to tie or take the lead with 23.7 seconds left.

Wade Goff got into the lane and tossed up a shot that missed to the left. Jerrett McCown found himself in the right place to tap it in, sending the game to overtime.

“We had it won, and then we don’t box out on the last possession of regulation and that is the ball game,” said Jacobs. “I told the guys if we box out every possession, then the game is ours.”

Lexington’s 8-2 run built a somewhat comfortable 86-81 lead, but East would hang around and trailed 86-83 with 14.3 seconds left after a Zach Palmer drive.

The Yellow Jackets threw a long pass out of the timeout that was deflected and nearly stolen by East, but McCown had another gift fall in his lap that he flushed down two-handed to put an exclamation point on the win.

East dips to 10-8 (3-3), while Lexington keeps the top spot with an unblemished 6-0 mark, with an 8-12 overall record.

Notes: All five Lexington starters reached double figures with Quandarius Crump leading them with 20 points, that included a mammoth putback slam ... Warren had 20 points for East and Dodd chipped in 17 ... Warren added to his fine night before the game even started winning a Dell computer in a drawing.

Sports Editor Zach Kepley can be reached at 888-3631, or at kepley@tvilletimes.com.