VIDALIA — For Vidalia High School basketball fans that might have gotten used to high-scoring offenses in recent years, Tuesday’s game against Block High School might have been too close for comfort.

But they’ve also gotten used to winning, so the final results were probably OK to the Viking faithful.

Vidalia rode a strong second-half surge to a 53-46 win, despite a brief hiccup in the beginning of the fourth quarter. Vikings head coach Robert Sanders said his players were able to settle down after a sluggish start.

“In the first half, we were out-hustled and out-rebounded,” Sanders said. “In the second half we kind of settled down into our way of playing, and got more patient on offense.”

The Vikings led 42-35 heading into the fourth quarter, but failed to score in the opening two minutes of the quarter. Block cut the lead to 42-40, but the Vikings were able to pull away thanks to two big three-pointers by Terrence Thompson.

“He started off slowly, but once he came back into the game, he picked it up,” Sanders said of Thompson. “That’s what we’ve gotten used to seeing from him.”

The Vikings trailed 24-21 to start the second half. In the third quarter, Vidalia matched its point total of 21 from the first half. The Vikings also held Block to 11 points, giving it a seven-point cushion going into the fourth quarter.

“We just became more patient and stopped forcing shots,” Sanders said. “Our three-point shooting also started to hit better.”

Alvin Bell led Vidalia with 14 points, followed by Thompson with 13 points. For Block, Bradley Stevenson tallied 14 points.

Fouls and free throw shooting were Vidalia’s Achilles heel Tuesday night. The Viking were just 7-of-12 from the line, while the Bears were 19-of-30 in free throws. Sanders said the trouble was not from a lack of practice.

“We practice free throws 10 to 15 minutes a day, and there’s punishment for shooting less than 70 percent,” he said. “They’re going to have to run suicides.”

Vidalia (2-2) will play against Franklin Parish at 5:40 p.m. today in the Tensas Tournament.