A valiant Bainbridge High School Bearcats comeback fell just short Tuesday night at Valdosta’s Lowndes County High School Vikings and Vikettes Tipoff Tournament, and the Coffee County High School Trojans hung on for a 75-67 overtime victory.

“We were down by 10 points with a minute and a half to go in the fourth quarter and came back to tie the game 52-52 and send it to overtime,” Bearcats coach Rickey McCullough said after the game. “They outscored us 23-15 in overtime when they shot 17 free throws.”

“We had a cold shooting stretch early in the game and that really hurt us. We hustled and played good defense the entire game. As long as we continue to do that, we will continue to get better,” McCullough said.

Four Bearcats starters, Justin Harris, Shawn Samuels, Jeremy Harper and Rohan Gaines, fouled out of the game.

The Bearcats, who are 1-1 on the season, will return to action Monday when they host Chipley, Fla., High School at the new Bainbridge High School gymnasium at 6 p.m.

Before coming to Bainbridge, McCullough coached 26 years at Chipley, leading them to an outstanding 599-229 record while winning 20 district championships and 15 regional championships.

In their season opener in Monday night’s first Lowndes County Tipoff Tournament round, the Bearcats defeated the Valdosta High School Wildcats 72-58.

The Bearcats had four men in double figures Tuesday night against Coffee County. Devon Baulkman led the way with 18 points. Harris scored 15 and he was followed by Davario Thomas with 13 and Samuels with 12.

Rounding out the Bearcats’ scoring column Tuesday night were Harper with 5, and Gaines and Lee Glaze with 2 apiece.