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It was no cakewalk, but Coffee County basketball picked up its fifth straight win Friday evening.

Trailing Lakeland Prep at the start of the fourth quarter, the host Red Raiders were able to take control late on the way to opening their Santa Shootout schedule with a 43-42 victory.

“Just staying with the game, staying composed. They run a very difficult defense to prepare for. We probably won’t see another one like it all year long. They’re gonna make the game ugly, they’re very well coached and they play their system,” Coffee County coach Andrew Taylor said of completing the comeback. “For us, we had to just stay with it, stay with it, get the ball inside and get on the glass, get to the free throw line and defensively, just lock down and get the stops we needed.”

Tied at 14 at the end of the first quarter, Coffee County briefly took a 15-14 lead on a free throw from MJ Rollman. Lakeland Prep quickly regained the upper hand from there, pushing back ahead with eight unanswered points to make it a 22-15 game. The Red Raiders kept it within reach, but finished the first half trailing 31-24.

Coffee County began to tighten it up as the second half got under way, putting up 10 points in the third quarter and holding Lakeland Prep to six points in the same span to make it a 37-34 game ahead of the fourth quarter.

After Lakeland Prep nailed a shot to open the final quarter, the Red Raiders climbed back in front on eight straight points from Rollman to take a 42-39 lead. Lakeland Prep responded by tying it up on a 3-pointer to make it a 42-42 game with around a minute left in regulation.

With overtime on the horizon, Luke Campbell was fouled with under 30 seconds to play and went to the line for a pair of free throws. Campbell sank one of his shots to put Coffee County up by one. Lakeland Prep was unable to answer, sealing the win for the Red Raiders.

The win marked yet another for Coffee County during its five-game streak in which it trailed an opponent at one point during the second half, following similar situations against York on Dec. 5, Franklin County on Dec. 9 and Fayetteville City on Dec. 12.

“We’ve been battle-tested the past three games and I believe in my team,” Audie Nicoll said of the Red Raiders’ ability to overcome late deficits. “I know we each bring something different to the table and just bringing that all together, playing some good defense, getting some stops, that’s what it comes down to.”

Rollman led the Red Raider offense with 16 points. Nicoll followed with 14 points. Kaysen Lowery added five points, finishing just ahead of Campbell with four points. Jerrad Morgan and Levi Rollman had two points each.

Coffee County (6-3) will resume tournament play at 7 p.m. this evening. The game will be played at Coffee County Central High School.