WARNER — For the Central Tigers, fourth time’s the charm.

After losing their three previous games to the Vian Wolverines, the Tigers finally knocked them off — and got some hardware in the process, as Central defeated Vian 49-42 to win the third-place game of the Warner Eagle Classic on Jan. 23 at Ronnie Hales Gym.

The Lady Tigers finished fourth after losing 41-23 to the Westville Lady Yellowjackets in Friday afternoon’s thirdplace game at Warner Event Center.

In the boys’ thirdplace game, the Tigers (8-6) led 9-6 after a quarter, 22-13 at halftime and 34-27 after three periods.

The Wolverines cut their deficit to 42-36 with three minutes left in the game, then cut Central’s lead to six points once more at 4539 on Dee Antwine’s 3-point basket with 30 seconds remaining.

Antwine’s basket with 13 seconds left cut Vian’s deficit to 47-42, but the Wolverines got no closer.

For the game, Noah Buzzard scored a gamehigh 16 points and Josh Brunk added 11 points to lead Central, followed by Jake Woods and Brycen Chandler-Eisman with six points each, Gavin Randolph with five points, Aiden Cawhorn with three points and Paitton Merrill with a free throw.

In the girls’ thirdplace game, the Yellowjackets doubled up the Lady Tigers 10-5 in the opening period en route to a 19-7 halftime advantage and a 25-18 lead after three quarters. A 16-5 final period sealed the deal for Westville.

In defeat, Sara Williams led the Lady Tigers (8-4) with 11 points, followed by Paris Campbell with eight points, Sadie Huff with three points and Cheyenne Busch with a free throw.

Last week’s games for Central — road games against Kinta on Jan. 27 as well as its homecoming games with Wister at Gore Event center last Friday night — got snowed out and were each canceled.

The Central teams had road games last Saturday night against Sallisaw.

Editor’s Note: Look for the details about the Sallisaw games in next week’s edition.