LAGRANGE – The Troup Tigers had some momentum.

When Isaac Moss scored with less than five minutes to play in Friday’s game, the Tigers had scored five straight points to cut Woodward Academy’s lead to 50-47.

The rest of the game belonged to the visiting War Eagles, though.

Woodward Academy outscored Troup 15-7 over the final 4:30 to claim a 65-54 victory in the Region 5-AAAA game.

The Tigers (5-7 overall, 0-2 in the region) have been right there in the fourth quarter of both of their region games with a chance to win, but they’ve been unable to break through.

Troup will look for that elusive region win when it visits Whitewater on Tuesday, and head coach Paul Brewer expects his players to come out and deliver a strong effort.

“I’m proud of these guys,” Brewer said. “The difference in this team and any other team I’ve had, they’re not going to come out of the locker room depressed. They’ll come out ready to play.”

Sophomore guard Jarrious Jefferson had a big game for the Tigers with 23 points, and Tremayne Tolbert added 12 points.

Woodward Academy got 16 points from Chester Maxwell, and he was 6-of-8 from the free-throw line.

Julian Cameron added 16 points, and he made three of his team’s eight 3-pointers, and Hunter Falconer scored 13 points, and he also knocked down three 3-pointers.

While Woodward Academy made eight 3-pointers in the game, Troup only made one shot from long range.

Woodward Academy also had the advantage from the free-throw line.

The War Eagles were 13-of-21 from the line, and they were nearly perfect late in the game as they looked to protect their lead.

Troup, meanwhile, had 11 free-throw attempts in the game, and it made four of them.

“They didn’t miss a free throw late,” Brewer said. “You have to credit them.”

Both teams had trouble getting shots to fall early, and by the time the first quarter ended, Woodward Academy had a 9-6 lead.

The Tigers heated up in the second quarter, and when Jefferson scored with 3:40 left in the half, they had scored six straight points to grab a 17-14 lead.

Back came the War Eagles, who went on a 12-0 run to go up 26-17 with 19 seconds left in the half.

Thanks to Jefferson, that nine-point deficit was about to be trimmed to four.

Jefferson scored with nine seconds left, and he then came up with a steal and made another shot, and as the halftime break arrived, Troup trailed 26-21.

The Tigers kept it close in the third quarter.

Three times in the quarter they pulled even, and by the time the fourth period rolled around, the War Eagles were clinging to a 43-40 lead.

Woodward Academy scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to push the lead to eight, but Troup hung around.

Jefferson made a 3-pointer to get the Tigers within five, and Moss scored with 4:45 to play to cut the War Eagles’ lead to three points.

That’s as close as the Tigers would come.

The War Eagles scored six straight points to go back up by nine with three minutes remaining, and they led by at least seven points the rest of the way.

Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports