With a 17-point lead midway through the third quarter, Lindsay Lane Christian looked to be cruising to a win Monday night over Ardmore. But the Tigers had other plans, making a furious comeback that came up just short, as the Lions held on for a 60-59 victory.

“We’re still trying to learn how to play together,” Lindsay Lane coach Steve Murr said. “We had nearly a 20-point lead, and we did some foolish things to let Ardmore get back in the game.”

Lindsay Lane led 34-22 at halftime and opened the third quarter on a 10-5 run to take its largest lead of the game at 44-27.

Ardmore cut the lead to 50-38 at the end of the third quarter, but Lindsay Lane was able to keep the Tigers at bay for most of the fourth quarter and still held a 60-50 lead with 1:45 remaining.

A 3-pointer by Matthew Perry with 1:26 left cut the lead to seven points and gave Ardmore life. After a Lindsay Lane turnover, Owen Doss made a basket while being fouled, then converted the free throw to make the score 60-56 with 36.1 seconds remaining.

Lindsay Lane turned the ball over again, and Perry made another 3-pointer to cut the lead to one point with 18 seconds remaining.

Lindsay Lane then missed a free throw. Ardmore got the rebound and called timeout with 8.9 seconds left to set up a final play.

Perry drove strong to the basket, but his well-defended shot rolled off the rim, and Doss’ putback attempt at the buzzer also missed, allowing Lindsay Lane to escape with the win.

“We’ve been in that situation already this season (having to come back from a large deficit),” Ardmore coach Kyle Owens said. “Our very first game of the season we got to practice that, so we know we’re never down and out. But we’ve got to get back to where we’re shooting the ball a lot better and playing a lot better to not put ourselves in those situations.”

Ardmore missed a lot of shots in the paint early in the game, which is one reason the Tigers got in a large hole. It is something Owens said Ardmore will have to improve.

“That’s something that plagued us a lot last year, missing a lot of shots under the basket,” Owens said. “We felt like we righted the ship, and this game reminded us we’ve still got a long way to go.”

One thing the Tigers did very well was defend Lindsay Lane standout Tommy Murr. Murr scored 30 points to lead both teams, but he made only 8 of 27 shots. Murr did make all 12 of his free-throw attempts.

“That’s a real good team we just played, and we hung right in there with them,” Owens said. “You can’t ever complain when you lose and play hard.”

Doss led Ardmore with 19 points and 11 rebounds, while Perry had 16 points. Chase Paterson chipped in with 11 points for the Tigers.

In addition to Murr’s 32 points, Charlie Morrison had 12 points for Lindsay Lane, while Brady Anderson and Amar Fuqua each had eight.

Steve Murr said while he was unhappy with the way his team played down the stretch, he will take the win and the learning experience his team gained.

“We play a pretty tough schedule for that reason, to put them in situations like this,” he said. “That was a good comeback by Ardmore, but I feel like we did a lot to hurt ourselves tonight, and I think that’s something we can learn from.”

Girls

Ardmore 55, Lindsay Lane 40

Ardmore withstood a third-quarter comeback attempt by Lindsay Lane and pulled away in the fourth quarter for a comfortable 15-point victory Monday night.

The Tigers held Lindsay Lane to single digit points in the first two quarters and took a 27-13 lead into halftime.

However, the Lions made a spirited comeback in the third quarter when Madelyn Dizon got hot. Dizon scored 13 points in the quarter, including three 3-pointers, as Lindsay Lane outscored Ardmore 21-13 to trim the lead to 40-34.

But Ardmore’s defense clamped down again in the fourth quarter, holding LLCA to six points. The Tigers made nine of 12 free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter to pull away.

Chesney Widner led Ardmore with 15 points, while Madison Lewis added 13 and Carlie Wise chipped in with 11.

Dizon was Lindsay Lane’s leading scorer with a game-high 20 points. Audra Putman scored eight for the Lions in the loss.