The Mineola Yellowjackets won their second consecutive “nail-biter” Tuesday by coming from behind in the second half to defeat Como-Pickton 58-57. To do so they had to overcome consistent three-point scoring by the Eagles.

“They wouldn’t go away,” Coach Ryan Steadman said later.

“It wasn’t bad defense” on Mineola’s part, he said. “They just kept making their shots.”

“Fortunately for us,” the coach said, “we made some of our own tonight.”

The visitors made eight three-pointers in the final three quarters and every time the Jackets appeared to open up a little breathing room C-P’s Ryan Humphrey, Corbin Flora or Yoan Preciado would hit from long range.

The game opened with Mineola’s Reggie Rumfield making a three-pointer and Garrett McCalla ended the first quarter with a three. In between Dac Shaw made a three of his own and the Jackets led 13-11 after eight minutes of play.

The visitors took a brief 23-20 lead on consecutive three-pointers by Humphrey but Mineola’s James Dean tied the game almost immediately with a three-point shot and when Humphrey and Rumfield swapped baskets the two teams went to the halftime break tied at 25.

In the third quarter the two teams had six lead changes, with Casey Stubblefield providing the final change with a three-point shot that gave Mineola a 40-38 lead. When Caleb Sneed scored after rebounding a Stubblefield miss as the quarter came to a close, Mineola led 42-38 going into the fourth quarter.

The Jackets were able to build four-and five-point advantages in the final eight minutes, but each time Como-Pickton would rally.

The Jackets led 53-47 and 57-49 when Como-Pickton made one last push to overtake Mineola.

Humphrey canned a three and Even Tellez made two foul shots before Rumfield made the all important foul shot with 30 seconds remaining that made the victory possible.

The Jackets’ defense then kept Como-Pickton from getting off a shot, forcing an Eagles’ time-out with 15 seconds remaining in the game.

Back in play Dac Shaw tipped an Eagles’ pass out of bounds with nine seconds remaining and when they inbounded the ball the Jackets forced the ball outside where Preciado made the final three point shot of the night, leaving Mineola the winner.

Rumfield led Mineola with 12 points, McCalla scored 10, Collin Wooten nine, Shaw eight, Stubblefield seven, Sneed six, Dean three, Braylon Walton two and Kendall Boyd one point.