The Falcons (4-4) led for all of the first three quarters, but had to survive four lead changes in the fourth quarter to earn third place in the Lanierland tournament with a 58-57 win on Thursday at Johnson.

Trailing 57-56 with :06 seconds left in the game, Flowery Branch's Nick Wayne hit a jump shot to earn the win.
North Hall's (7-3) last-second 3-point attempt as the clock expired went off the backboard and off the rim.

Flowery Branch coach Duke Mullis believes his team was fatigued in the fourth quarter, which led to North Hall taking its first lead at 44-43 on a jump shot by Adam Kelly with 4:35 left to play.

Still, the Falcons' coach is pleased with taking third in such a deep tournament from top to bottom. "I'd love to win it, but still feel good about third," Mullis said.

In the final two minutes of the game, the two squads swapped the lead quickly with offsetting 3-pointers.

Tyler McBroom hit a 3-pointer for Flowery Branch with 1:50 left to play to take a 53-52 lead, but the Trojans (7-3) came right back and took a 55-53 lead with one of Griffin Olson's four 3-pointers on the night.

Trailing 57-53, Jamaad Stephens (20 points) hit a 3-pointer for Flowery Branch to draw to within 1-point. On the eventual winning basket, Mullis told his team to attack the basket, and just happened to find Wayne open for the shot.

A 3-pointer by Wayne early in the second quarter gave Flowery Branch its biggest lead of the game at 38-28 with 5:16 left before halftime.

Olson led North Hall with 12 points. North Hall trailed early in the game as Stephens went on a tear shooting early. Back-to-back baskets by Stephens early in the game put the Falcons in front 12-4.

In the second quarter, Flowery Branch kept the momentum with the shooting of James Hodges (seven points) and Quincy Hodges (nine points).

"We've just got to learn how to play hard for 32 minutes," North Hall coach Benjie Wood said.