BROSELEY -- Taylor Harlow picked the perfect time to knock down his only shot Friday night.
The Neelyville senior sank a go-ahead 3-pointer when Marquise West found him wide open in the corner with 4 1/2 minutes remaining and the Tigers held on to spoil a Hawaiian-themed homecoming at Twin Rivers.
With the 55-48 win, Neelyville moved into a first-place tie in the Ozark Foothills Conference race with the Royals.
"We just made some big plays there at the end," Tigers coach Patrick Morton said.
Neelyville (12-4, 3-1 OFC), which missed 11 foul shots overall, came away with the rebound off a missed free throw twice in the final minute leading to three points as the Tigers closed the game with a 7-2 run.
The Royals (8-7, 3-1), who trailed by 12 late in the first half, couldn't complete the comeback in front of a packed gym.
"We gave them three offensive rebounds and we lost the game on free throw block-outs basically in the last two minutes," Royals coach Seth McBroom said. "That's hard to swallow right there."
Neelyville led 48-43 when the Tigers got the first offensive rebound off a missed free throw, cutting time off the clock before a steal by Zach Hargraves. Jamie Robards hit a corner 3 with a minute to play cut the Royals' deficit to two points.
Jemaane Williams was fouled on the ensuing inbound play following a timeout, and the Neelyville freshman knocked down two free throws. Elijah Crossen rebounded a missed 3-pointer by the Royals and was quickly sent to the line where the sophomore hit his first but missed the second. West, who had a game-high 11 rebounds, came away with the miss and split two foul shots for a 52-46 lead with 44 seconds to play.
After the Royals missed two more 3-pointers, Curtis Fowler got a putback off a missed free throw.
"We try to emphasize to our guys that if you're willing to get the loose balls, get the big boards. You're going to put yourself in situations to win a ballgame," Morton said. "At the end, that's what happened. Proud of those guys for getting those boards."
Neelyville finished with a plus-7 rebounding advantage as the Royals struggled to find the bottom of the net. Twin Rivers shot 34.8 percent from the field, including 4 of 20 from 3-point range.
The Tigers took a 30-21 lead into the second half but Twin Rivers rallied by forcing 12 turnovers. The Royals closed the third quarter with a 9-2 run but didn't catch Neelyville until a steal and two free throws by Hayden Thomas tied it at 38-all with 5:18 remaining.
Thomas scored a game-high 23 points with 15 in the second half, going 9 of 10 from the foul line. Another steal led to two more free throws for the lead but Harlow answered 23 seconds later.
"Taylor stepped up, hit a big shot when he was open," Morton said. "Sometimes when you have guys who aren't used to scoring a whole lot they're so hesitant to take those shots and man, he's a senior, he stepped up and made a senior play."
The Royals were within a point with just over two minutes remaining when Fowler got a twisting shot in the post to go in off the glass as he was fouled. Crossen scored on a drive to the basket after Twin Rivers missed a corner 3 for a 47-42 lead with 1:38 left.
Fowler led the Tigers with 16 points while West added 15 for a double-double as the pair combined for 20 boards. Crossen chipped in 13 points while Williams sank a pair of second-quarter 3s in scoring eight points.
Neelyville scored the final six points of the first quarter to lead 14-8 then put together a 12-2 run in the second quarter after the Royals got within a bucket. Williams started the run with a 3 while Fowler's putback put the Tigers up 30-18 with 2:04 left in the half.
"I thought Twin Rivers did a great job of adjusting in the second half, especially that fourth quarter of shutting that down and putting pressure on our guards to do some things.
"We ended up stepping up. Just happy we got out of here with a win."
That win created a logjam atop the OFC standings with the Tigers and Royals each 3-1 followed by Clearwater (2-1), Doniphan (1-1) and Naylor (1-1).
Twin Rivers had not played in 10 days due to the ice and snow, while Neelyville's break was only two days shorter.
"We had some success there for a minute or two," McBroom said. "That's just a hard one. Hats off to Neelyville, they did some things right for sure."
Twin Rivers won the junior varsity game 52-24.