Episcopal Collegiate held off Mayflower 66-61 on Friday night in a game during which both teams experienced their share of shooting issues.

The Wildcats, runners-up last season in the Class 3A state tournament, missed more than 10 shots from close range but made their free throws late as Episcopal Collegiate grabbed sole possession of the 5-3A Conference lead.

“I think we played OK,” Episcopal Collegiate Coach Micah Marsh said. “In the first quarter we counted six or seven missed layups. Our defense kept us in the game there in the second quarter, holding them to six points, and we finally got our layups going in the second half and we were able to stretch it out a little bit.”

The Wildcats (11-3, 5-0) made 11 of 17 free throws in the final four minutes to hang on for the victory.

Mayflower (14-4, 6-1) was 12 of 29 from the line for the game.

“Normally, we are not that bad,’’ Mayflower Coach Brent Stallings said.

The Eagles jumped out to a 10-5 lead 5:47 into the game and led 18-14 at the end of one quarter, but a stretch of six missed shots and a turnover allowed Episcopal to grab a 20-18 lead with 6:46 left in the half.

Episcopal led 25-24 at halftime despite shooting 7 of 26 from the field.

Mayflower led twice in the second half, the last time at 34-33 with 4:37 left in the third period before the Wildcats reeled off a 9-0 run to grab control of the game at 42-34. Mayflower was never closer than five the rest of the way.

Kelvin Robinson led Episcopal Collegiate with 25 points and Mahlon Martin added 17. Mayflower’s J.P. Perry led all scorers with 27 points, and Drew Duncan and Hayden Long had 11 each.

“We match up with them well and they match up with us, and every time we play it is a heated game,” Marsh said. “They know us, we know them. There is no hate there, just a very competitive game.”

Sports, Pages 28 on 01/18/2014