Xavier Nixon, the 6-foot-6, 275-pound Jack Britt senior who is headed to play football with the national champion Florida Gators, scored a game-high 18 points — including a dominant stretch that bridged the third and fourth quarters — to help the Buccaneers to a 48-39 win over the Scotland boys' basketball team on Friday night in Laurinburg.

Scotland (10-10, 7-7) had a four-game winning streak before home losses to Seventy-First on Wednesday and Britt on Friday. The Falcons (22-1, 13-1) are the Mid-Southeastern Conference regular-season champs, and the Bucs (18-6, 12-2) finished second, just one game back of Seventy-First.

Scotland played Jack Britt tough all night, and the Scots had their moments against the Falcons. Nixon's primary sport may be football, but he creates a very difficult match-up on the hardwood as well.

Nixon might be the only player in the M-SEC whose size can bother Scotland senior forward James Robinson. Nixon was able to overpower Robinson in the paint at times on Friday, including the stretch where he scored 11 points in just over three and a half minutes. Nixon's points were critical in helping the Bucs fend off a surging Scotland team.

"The kids played hard, just made a couple of mistakes there at the end that were costly," said SHS head coach Mike Ritchie. "The kids played hard though.

"They gave it all they had, and you've got to give (Jack Britt) credit, they're a great basketball team. Nixon -- you can see why the kid's going to Florida on a football scholarship -- the kid's a good athlete.

"Don't take anything away from our kids either. They fought and scrapped. Number one [Seventy-First] and number two [Jack Britt], and we played them both to the wire."

Scotland led early, 3-0 after a 3-pointer by Robinson, 5-4 following a strong drive and finish by back-up guard Jeremy McLean, and 7-4 after a give-and-go from Darius Monley to point guard Chris Moss with 3:22 remaining in the first quarter.

Jack Britt scored the last seven points of the period to go up 11-7 after one. Robinson picked up two early fouls and would sit the majority of the first half, and Jack Britt would hold a slim 18-17 lead at the half. The Buccaneers made 9-of-10 free throws in the first two quarters, while Scotland was 1-for-4.

A 5-0 run by the Scots during a 24-second span in the third quarter tied the score at 22-all. Robinson hit a 3-pointer, and center Darius Monley had a put-back to tie the game.

Jack Britt's Brandon Nichols hit a pair of threes, and Nixon had his team's last three baskets of the third quarter, which would end with the Bucs holding a 31-27 advantage.

Nixon hit a one-handed shot from eight feet out on the baseline with Robinson defending closely 32 seconds into the fourth quarter. Nixon scored again, this time with Robinson fouling him hard, at the 6:24 mark. Nixon converted the 3-point play and the Bucs led 36-30.

Scotland had back-to-back threes around the same time to keep the score close. Mo Covington and Chris Moss both hit from the right corner, and Moss' shot cut the deficit to 36-33 with 6:12 to go.

A nice up-and-under move by Robinson resulted in a basket to cut the lead to 37-35. Darius Monley would hit a jump hook over two Britt defenders; Monley was fouled on the play but missed the free throw, and the Bucs still held a 38-37 lead.

Robinson pushed in a one-handed shot and was fouled with 1:40 to play. He would also miss the chance to make it a 3-point play, and the Scots trailed 42-39.

Jack Britt's Jamil Barney was a big factor with six consecutive points down the stretch. A big turnover by Scotland with 52.5 seconds remaining forced the Scots to start fouling, and the Bucs hit 4-of-5 free throws in the final 47.7 seconds, while the Scots failed to score in the final 100 seconds.

Moss and Robinson scored 10 points apiece to lead SHS. Covington had eight points, Monley had six and McLean scored three.

Ritchie feels good about where his team is at heading into next week's M-SEC Tournament (Opponent, venue and time of the Scots' first-round game was not known at press time (look online for that information on Monday).

"The great thing about it is, we're going to the conference tournament, and then we're going to the state tournament," said Ritchie, whose Scots finished fourth in the final M-SEC standings.