PORT NECHES — The more Port Neches-Groves connected from three-point range, the less likely it seemed Nederland’s 9-0 start to the latest Mid-County Madness basketball installation would have made a difference.

Nederland, though, got a defensive stop on PNG’s last chance to tie the game and escaped The Reservation with a 42-39 win Tuesday night.

“It’s a game of runs,” Nederland coach Brian English said. “We knew [the Indians] weren’t going to quit. They did a great job of coming back and we did a good job of holding them off. Good game, and we knew it was going to be like that. It always is.”

Both teams needed the win in a battle to remain in the top four in District 22-5A standings. PNG (11-13, 1-3 in 22-5A) has now lost three straight.

“PNG’s not a bad team,” said sophomore swingman Hayden Hefner, who led Nederland with 16 points. “This game can boost our confidence a lot.”

The Indians didn’t go away very easily. They shot 14 for 19 from the free-throw line for the game and made four of their five three-point shots in the final 8 minutes.

“When we got to the bonus, we knew we had to keep penetration and try to catch up when the clock stopped,” Abel said. “That was really in both halves.”

A 33-24 Nederland lead quickly whittled down to 36-32 after Khristian Curtis scored on an outlet with 5:56 left. Drake Rojas had seven of his team-high 14 points to keep PNG in it, and Edsel Damo calmly sank a three-point shot with 2:34 left to pull the Indians within 42-39.

“We weren’t converting on offense, and then they kept building up on their offensive side,” Hefner said.

Nederland (19-8, 2-2) went into a delay offense and melted almost a minute off the clock, but came up empty on two 1-and-1 trips. Damo drew iron on a three before Nederland touched the ball going out of bounds, and PNG was forced to take a timeout to avoid a 5-second inbound violation with 5 seconds left on the clock.

Rojas took the side-out pass at the top of the key and hit the rim on a contested three-point try. Nederland chased down the loose ball for the final rebound.

PNG coach Pat Abel said the final offensive play developed the way he wanted it, other than the miss.

“We tried to give ourselves a couple of options off of it,” Abel said. “It looked like one of them closed off, but the other was there. I think we had a great look at the basket. I tried my best to wish it in. It decided to pop out on us.”

At the start of the game, it appeared the Bulldogs would run away with another rivalry win, scoring nine unanswered points in the first 2 minutes, 4 seconds. They led 14-3 through one quarter and 24-16 following a free-throw battle through much of the second.

Nederland has to turn its attention to a Friday game at district-leading Port Arthur Memorial, which has won nine straight. PNG will visit second-place Beaumont Central.

“Hopefully we can get a little momentum off of it,” English said. “It’s better to win this game than lose it. Port Arthur’s really good, so we’ve got to be ready to play.”

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews