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The Coffee County Red Raiders found themselves in another close fight against Grundy County, but the Yellow Jackets narrowly escaped Manchester in a 55-54 battle on Friday night.

After ending their district slate with a narrow victory over Spring Hill on Thursday evening, the Red Raiders were looking to end the regular season with a Friday night win over Grundy County.

The two teams had previously met all the way back on Nov. 25, 2024 in the fourth game of the season with the Red Raiders suffering a close 61-57 loss in Coalmont.

Friday night’s rematch would prove to be another dog fight, but the Red Raiders would fall short by the thinnest of margins.

The Yellow Jackets would swarm to a good start in the first half, outscoring the Red Raiders 17-12 in the first quarter and 12-9 in the second to grab a 29-21 lead at the half.

Coffee County would swat back in the third quarter, grounding the Yellow Jackets to eight points and tying the score at 37-37 heading into the final frame.

Both teams went blow-for-blow in the fourth quarter and with one minute left, the Yellow Jackets assumed a 51-49 lead.

Senior Brady Wright would nail a three-pointer with over 29 seconds remaining to give Coffee County a 52-51 lead, but the Jackets would draw a shooting foul just seconds later on the other end of the court, and Nate Roberts would sink both free throws to take the lead back for Grundy, 53-52.

The Red Raiders would try to find an open shot on the ensuing possession, but the ball would be turned over on an errant pass with 7.4 seconds remaining.

Grundy County would be fouled on the inbounds pass, and Sam Parson would hit both free throws to increase the Jackets’ lead to 55-52 with 5.4 seconds to go.

The Red Raiders would quickly get the ball back down the court and Cayden Trail would cut the lead to 55-54 on a put-back bucket with 0.4 seconds left on the clock.

On the inbounds pass by Grundy County, the ball was deflected out of bounds and one official initially called it out on the Yellow Jackets with no time taken off the clock, but after all three officials met to discuss the ruling, the play was deemed out of bounds on Coffee County and the game ended.

After the loss, the Red Raiders end the regular season with an overall record of 12-14.

Grundy County: 17, 12, 8, 18 (55) Sam Parson 22, Gus Williams 11, Dylan Garcia 8, Landon Parson 6, Reece Strong 6, Nate Roberts 2.

Coffee County: 12, 9, 16, 17 (54) Brady Wright 12, Cayden Trail 10, Jaiden Warren 10, Cortland 10, Jayden Carter 6, MJ Rollman 4, Caiden Warren 2.

The Red Raiders will now turn their eyes to the 4A District 9 Tournament as the district’s No. 3 seed with a first round home game against No. 6 seed Spring Hill on Tuesday, Feb. 18 at 6:30 p.m.

The Lady Raiders will get a first round bye as the No. 1 seed in the girls tournament and will play the winner between No. 4 Warren County and No. 5 Spring Hill in the District Semifinals at Shelbyville Central on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 6 p.m.