Central High School's boys basketball team outlasted Selma, 75-71, on Friday night.

Bryant Lancaster Jr. and Deshiah Pruitt combined to score 45 of the Falcons’ 75 points. Lancaster finished with 25 points, including four 3-pointers, and Pruitt had 20 points, including five 3s.

The Falcons had a 33-31 halftime lead, and a 58-49 advantage at the end of the third quarter. The Saints chipped away at the deficit in the fourth quarter and tied it, 70-70, with 1:20 remaining off a 3-pointer by Michael Harris, who finished with 11 points.

“I will take a win any way I can get them any time of the year. Coming back from Christmas break we had a few days layoff and you could tell because our defensive rotation wasn’t there tonight,” Central coach Kelvin Lett said. “The guys didn’t rebound like we normally do, but we did shoot the ball pretty well tonight so we made up for it on that end.”

Central made 3 of 4 free throws down the stretch to secure the victory. K’Monte Johnson hit a pair of free throws with 1:06 remaining, making it 72-70, and Pruitt made one with 9.6 seconds left, to go up two possessions, 75-71.

“I accept the fact that we are going to miss a few, but as long as we make the ones down the stretch that we need to pull the game out, we did that tonight, so I feel much better about that.” Lett said.

Selma’s Jadarius Whitlock and Gernard Brown both finished with 14 points.

Central (13-6) travels to Hillcrest on Tuesday.

Reach Joey Chandler at joey.chandler@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0223.