LANETT — Nothing was held back in the latest chapter of the Springwood School-Chambers Academy rivalry on Friday night.

“It’s easy to play hard against your rival,” Springwood boys head basketball coach Drew Dorsey said. “I was expecting the effort to be good tonight.”

The Wildcats effort, however, would come up short as Springwood fell to Chambers 58-31.

The game started off with offensive struggles for both teams.

The Wildcats guarded Rebels star, Payton Allen, well and showed him looks that forced him into getting off to a slow start.

“I’ve been coaching against Payton for longer than I wanted to,” Dorsey joked. “He’s a really good basketball player, and we tried to make it hard for him to catch the basketball. I feel like if we can make it hard for Payton, or any other team’s best player, to catch and force him into a tough shot, then that’s good defense.”

Allen still finished the night with 19 points, which was second behind only Colton Hand for the Rebels.

Chambers Academy post players Austin Sluder and Raphe Daniel were the keys to the Rebels pulling away after a carrying a 19-7 lead into halftime.

Once Chambers won the battle on the boards, the Rebels began scoring more and ultimately pulled away in the second half.

“I think that’s where you win basketball games,” Chambers boys head basketball coach Jason Allen said. “It’s a lot like running the football. You have to own the glass if you want to win consistently in this game, and we have so far this season.”

Springwood sophomore Coleman Hull kept the home crowd engaged when he blocked a shot toward the end of the first half.

He led the Wildcats with 15 points on the night before fouling out with five minutes remaining.

“Coleman’s got such a high motor,” Dorsey said. “He’s going 100 miles an hour all the time. If he slows down just a little bit on offense, that game really opens up for him. With him having that high motor, he’s going to pick up fouls. It’s really just him learning when to step back of when not to go for the ball, or when not to go for that block, and that just goes back to coaching.”

Dorsey said that he wants his team to now focus on improving its comeback attack.

While the Wildcats upped the tempo in the final minutes of the game, Dorsey said that he preferred the team to begin the push earlier in the fourth quarter. As of now, he’s looking forward to winter break to practice some of the things that he sees the team needs to work on.

Meanwhile, for Chambers Academy, the Rebels are enjoying a 3-0 start after earning their first road win on Friday night.

The team returns to action on Tuesday night at home against Abbeville Christian.