By CLAUDE SCILLEY

For three quarters of their basketball game Tuesday, the Loyalist Lancers couldn’t seem to get out of their own tracks. Dubious shot selection—and poor success when they did shoot—in the face of some spirited play by the Queen Elizabeth Raiders had QE comfortably in front.

Then something remarkable happened: the Lancers suddenly could do no wrong. They rebounded,  ran their offence, displayed ball-hawking defence—and scored the last 16 points of the game to turn a 13-point deficit into a 49-46 victory in a Kingston Area Secondary Schools Athletic Association senior basketball game at QE.

It was the first win of the season for Loyalist, which will go into the Christmas break with a 1-4 record.

At times disorganized, generally unable to get the ball inside and periodically unable to find their three-point shooting eye, the Lancers twice trailed by 11 points and on two other occasions trailed by 13, as late as 46-33 late in the third quarter.

A basket late in the period seemed relatively harmless, but it would propel the visitors to a 14-0 fourth quarter in a game that would rekindle playoff hopes for the previously winless victor.

The game turned quickly in the fifth minute of the period. Trailing by six points, Loyalist’s Kaelan Ingersoll hit a three-point basket to make the score 46-43. He then stole the ball and took it to the hoop for a basket that made it a one-point contest and QE’s next trip up the floor ended with a steal by Taylor Pettingil, who took the ball and layed it in. The 30-second outburst gave Loyalist its first lead since the first quarter, 47-46, with 2:10 left in the game.

Some poor foul shooting prevented the Lancers from putting the game away. They managed just one point from three bonus free-throw situations, leaving QE with a chance to tie the game, or win it with a three-point basket, in the final minute.

After calling timeout with 17.7 seconds on the clock, QE worked the ball to Tyler Deir for a three-point try that failed with five seconds left. The Raiders immediately fouled, Pettingil made one of two free throws, and QE had another chance after Loyalist first stole the ball, then mishandled it out of bounds at mid-court with 4.1 seconds left in the game.

Again Deir, with three three-pointers in the game, tried for the game-tying three but it also missed, as QE completed the rare scoreless quarter.

Ingersoll finished the game with 22 points, a total that included five three-point baskets and 5-for-8 foul shooting. Vincent Leung scored 12 points for Loyalist, while Pettingil added 11.

Deir’s 13 points led QE, which fell to 0-4. The Raiders got a dozen points from Vic Vincent.

Elsewhere Tuesday:

Three teams remain undefeated as the Sydenham Golden Eagles beat the visiting Kingston Blues 46-36; the Frontenac Falcons claimed a 56-47 home-court win over the La Salle Black Knights and the Regiopolis Notre Dame Panthers dumped the Napanee Golden Hawks 59-39.

Frontenac ends the pre-Christmas portion of the schedule 4-0, tied for first place with Sydenham, which will end the first part of its schedule Thursday at La Salle. Regi goes into the break 3-0.

• Playing at home, Regi turned a number of early turnovers into transition lay-ups en route to a 22-5 lead. Napanee collected itself and cut the lead to just eight points in the second quarter but a pair of corner threes by Enzo Romeo keyed a late rally that put the Panthers comfortably back in front by halftime.

Regi sustained its lead throughout a sloppy second half characterized by fouls and turnovers.

Romeo and Duncan Lambert each scored 12 points for the Panthers, who got 11 points from Nick Savoie. Hudson Sheffield scored 10 points to lead Napanee, which reached the mid-point of its schedule 2-3.

In Tuesday’s other game, the Bayridge Blazers won their second in a row, 70-25 over the winless Granite Ridge Gryphons.