By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

The Troup Tigers pushed Upson-Lee to overtime before falling 79-70 in a thriller on Tuesday night.

Troup deadlocked the score at 68-68 on an Isaiah Cox basket late in regulation, and that’s the way it remained headed to overtime.

Upson-Lee dominated the four-minute extra point, outscoring Troup 11-2 to secure the hard-earned win.

Cox, a senior post player, led the Tigers with 16 points, with eight of those points coming in the fourth quarter.

Gabe Cofield contributed 15 points and made a pair of 3-pointers, and Ricco Person knocked down three 3-pointers and scored 11 points.

K.J. Tucker added eight points and made two 3-pointers, and Jaquavious Whitfield chipped in with seven points.

Upson-Lee had a 46-37 lead with 3:14 left in the third quarter when Troup came to life, going on a 12-2 run to take a 49-48 heading to the final quarter.

Person and Tucker each made two 3-pointers to spark the Tigers in the third quarter, giving them the lead with eight minutes to play.

The Tigers carried that momentum into the final quarter, and they led by five points following a Cox basket with 4:45 to play.

Back came the Knights, who went on a 10-0 run to grab a five-point lead with 2:44 to play.

The Upson-Lee lead was still two when Cox scored with 33 seconds to play, making it a 68-68 game.

Upson-Lee was called for a travel with four seconds left, but Troup was unable to make a half-court shot at the buzzer, so it was on to overtime.

The Knights scored the first six points of overtime before Cofield hit a short jumper with 1:54 to play, getting the Tigers within four.

Troup didn’t score in overtime again, though, and Upson-Lee was able to put the game away.

Troup (2-1) will be on the road against Greenville on Friday.