Tied for No. 2 in the NJCAA Div. III rankings this week, the Sandhills Flyers had little time to digest their first defeat of the season at Louisburg Tuesday evening. They just knew they didn’t want to lose two in a row.

On Wednesday at The O’Neal School, the Flyers outlasted a talented Queen City Prep team 103-97 to improve to 13-1 on the season. Raheem Jolliffe led five Flyers in double figures with 23 points. Louis Craft scored 17 and grabbed eight rebounds.

Point guard Dre Huntley scored all 14 of his points in the second half, including a clutch three-pointer with 1:30 remaining in the game. He also assisted on eight baskets. Markell Lotharp posted a double-double that included 11 points and 11 boards. Tarik Phillip led the Trailblazers, now 12-3, with 29 points.

“Last night we didn’t play too well,” Jolliffe said of the 89-75 loss to Louisburg, the No. 9 ranked team in Div. II. “This was like a response game. Coach (Mike Apple) wanted to see how we’d act after the loss.”

The 5-foot-10 sophomore guard responded quickly, scoring the Flyers’ first five points off an offensive rebound and a three. About midway through the half, threes by Raheem Washington, Jolliffe and Michael Collins, mixed in with a jumper by Jolliffe, gave the home team its biggest lead of the night at 33-16.

Coach Mike Apple’s squad was still looking good when a pair of free throws by Washington made it 53-37 with about two minutes remaining in the half. But the Blazers went into the intermission on a 5-0 run and kept it going after the break. Two dunks in a row by 6-10 Vanderbilt commit, Arnold Okechukwu, tied the game at 55-55.

“We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball,” Apple said. “We had a working advantage and turned the ball over a number of times.”

Phillip, a highly recruited 6-3 guard from Brooklyn, took over the game for a spell with his drives to the basket. He made a pair of free throws with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game that gave the visitors their biggest lead at 72-69.

“Tarik is a good player,” Jolliffe said after giving up five inches when he guarded him. “I played against him in AAU so he’s a friend.”

Now it was time for Huntley, the smallest man on the court at 5-4, to take charge. He made a three to put the Flyers back in front. At the 4:30 mark, he whipped a bullet pass through traffic to Washington for layup and an 89-84 Flyer lead. It was 92-86 Flyers with 3:24 remaining when four points in a row by Terrell Owens, and a pair at the line by Thomas DeVane, tied the game a 92-92.

Late in the shot clock, Huntley sank the three with under a minute to play that made 95-92. He followed that up with a pair of free throws 30 seconds later. Then he fed Craft for a three-point play.

It was 100-97 at the 23.0 second mark when T.J. Jones went to the line and made one of two.

“I had blood on my shirt so I didn’t want the ref to see it,” the Flyer forward said. “I was feeling really good even though I missed one.”

A moment later, Jones grabbed a rebound that led to a clinching pair of free throws by Huntley.”

The squad from Charlotte began the game pressing full court, but Huntley helped turn that off with his speed and ball-handling ability.

“That was a pretty good team, and they were coming after us, but we had something to prove after losing last night,” the product of Forest Hills High school said. “We didn’t want to lose two in a row especially on our home court.”

The 6-10 Craft, who enjoyed one of his best performances of the season, faced a person his size for the first time this season in Okechukwu, who is from Nigeria.

“I’ve been waiting on a challenge like that because most of the teams we play have short post men,” he said. “I was waiting on that to see how I could do. I thought I did pretty good.”

The Trailblazers came into the game with a 5-1 record against JUCO competition this season. All but two of their 12 players come from out of state. The two teams meet again on Jan. 4 in Charlotte.

“They’re in very good shape and play well with one another,” Blazers’ coach Tony Taylor said of the Flyers. “They pass the ball well and they’re really hard-nosed.”

The Flyers trailed by as many as 22 points in the loss at Louisburg. Lotharp finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in the losing cause. Louisburg is scheduled to return the favor with a visit to Southern Pines on Jan. 12.

“These guys are competitive,” Apple said of his players. “Last night we were competitive, but we just didn’t play very well.”

The Flyers are tied for second with Sullivan County Community College (N.Y.) for second place in the NJCAA poll. Undefeated Central Lakes College (Minn.) is No. 1.

Scoring: (QC) – Spann 0 1-2 1, Linson 4 0-0 13, Kirk 2 1-5 5, Phillip 8 13-18 29, Langhorne 2 0-1 4, DeVane 2 4-4 8, Owens 6 2-4 17, Bal 4 2-3 14, Okechukwu 3 2-3 8, Bailey 0 0-0 0, Major 0 0-0 0. Totals 31 25-40 97. (SH) Towns 2 3-3 7, Jolliffe 9 2-2 23, Huntley 4 4-4 14, Craft 6 5-7 17, Lotharp 4 3-3 11, Collins 3 0-0 8, Gill 0 1-2 1, Cole 0 0-1 0, Washington 4 2-2 10, Jones 2 3-6 8, Pride 2 0-2 4. Totals 36 23-32 103. Three-point goals: (QC) 10 (Bal 4, Linson 3, Owens 3); (SH) 8 (Jolliffe 3, Collins 2, Huntley 2, Jones).