WENDELL - East Wake managed a late-game surge against Clayton Tuesday, turning a potential blowout into a nail biter that kept fans on the edge of their seats all the way to the final buzzer.

But the Comets prevailed in an emotional battle that included two technical fouls and come-from-behind drama to edge the Warriors 68-66.

“The season is winding down and the games are getting intense,” Clayton coach Denny Medlin said. “Neither team wanted to lose.”

Clayton (14-5, 8-3 Greater Neuse River 4A) opened with a 6-point streak that Chris Pernell ended with a 3 pointer, but despite such flashes of success shots didn’t drop for the Warriors for most of the first quarter. The Comets held a commanding lead, 18-8, after the first frame.

East Wake’s Josh Siler caught the 3-point fever and combined with Pernell to score 9 straight points in the second quarter. While Clayton continued to score, East Wake (8-12, 6-5) managed to close the gap to a 22-21 deficit midway through the second quarter. Clayton outscored the Warriors 10-3, however, up to the halftime buzzer to hold an 8-point lead at the break.

Despite recording two technical fouls in the third quarter the Warriors played shot-for-shot with Clayton but couldn’t cut into the Comet lead. It wasn’t until 4:52 left in the game East Wake would make one final run.

Warrior Jonathan High tied the game at 52 and for the next two minutes the lead was passed back and forth. The last minute of action played out in slow motion.

With one second left on the clock, East Wake had possession and the clock ticked down to just one-tenth of a second. Under protest from the Warriors’ coaches, officials put one second back on the clock.

The one second proved too little time for an inbound and comeback shot. Clayton hung on to the win.

“Both teams played with emotion and intensity,” Medlin said. “East Wake is a highly improved team. They shot well and defended well, but our guys managed to pull it out somehow.”

The game left East Wake coach Darrin Stinson shaking his head.

“We played hard and made a big comeback,” he said. “Zavier Strickland did well on defense. Josh Siler stepped up. Quincy Jackson and Jonathan High did well. We played good defense and shot free throws well, but I was disappointed in the technical fouls.”

Going forward through the final games of the season, he plans to continue to concentrate on defense, and to practice more patience on offense.

“We were a little rushed on offense tonight,” Stinson said.

Both teams have challenging conference games throughout the final days of regular season play before the conference tournament the week of Feb. 13.

Medlin isn’t looking too far ahead.

“We’re taking them one game at a time,” he said.

For East Wake, Siler scored 10 points, including a trio of 3-point plays. Jackson led with 20 points.

Top scorers for Clayton were Kyle Bryant with 21 points and Gary Clark with 20.