By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

HAMILTON –  Cal’von Harris was in the right place at the right time for Harris County.

After rallying from a double-digit deficit in the second half to force overtime, LaGrange lost to Harris County 50-48 when Harris scored on a put-back as time expired on Tuesday night.

“I’m proud of them,” said LaGrange head coach Mark Veal, whose team fell to 1-3. “Obviously we lost a heart-breaker, but we did some things better tonight. We just came up short.”

Trailing 21-20 at the half, the Grangers went more than five minutes at the start of the third quarter without scoring, and the Tigers were able to build a 10-point lead.

The Grangers started to find some offensive success toward the tail end of the third quarter, but they were still down 36-27 as the final period began.

The deficit remained at nine with five minutes to go in the third quarter when Earley Sanders knocked down a pair of free throws, jump-starting a 9-0 run that pulled LaGrange even.

D.J. Burks sparked the Grangers by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers and scoring eight straight points to cut the Tigers’ lead to three with 3:26 to play.

A Jakobe Jones 3-pointers made it a two-point game, and Jordan Ogletree’s basket with 13 seconds left in regulation tied it at 46-46.

The Tigers had a chance to win it in regulation, but they were unable to get a shot away, so it was on to overtime.

With 1:40 left in the four-minute overtime period, Ogletree made two free throws to give the Grangers the lead, and the Tigers tied it at 48-48 on a Marcus Dumas basket with 1:20 remaining.

The Grangers had the ball late with an opportunity to surge ahead, but the Tigers got the rebound with six seconds left following a missed 3-pointer.

Following a missed shot, Cal’von Harris was on the spot with the rebound, and his put-back as time expired gave the Tigers the win.

Ogletree paced the Grangers with 19 points, and Burks added 11 points, with all but one of those points coming in the fourth quarter.

A.J. Spencer led Harris County with 25 points.

“We’ve brought some good teams here before that won region titles, and went far as state, and it’s never an easy time here,” Veal said.

LaGrange returns to the court on Saturday for a home game against Callaway.

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