From left, Youngsville’s Braydon Baker, Rylan Benton, Cash Moore and David Manning defend during Tuesday’s game with Erie First Christian at Youngsville High School. Photo submitted to Times Observer

YOUNGSVILLE — Sometimes, the final score doesn’t tell the entire story.

A quick glance shows Erie First Christian defeating the Youngsville Eagles 68-54 on Tuesday at Youngsville High School.

What a box score won’t show you is Youngsville trailed by just three points with 3:16 remaining before a couple key plays went the way of the visitors in the Region 3 contest.

Youngsville (10-4, 1-3 Region 3) stormed out of the gate in Tuesday’s tilt, building an early 12-4 lead before Erie First (9-6, 4-1 Region 3) called a quick timeout. The visitors responded with an 8-0 run that tied things late in the first quarter.

From there, Cash Moore made a quick bucket and David Manning added five quick points to put the hosts up 19-12 with 5:47 left in the opening half.

Erie First junior guard Avery Collins — who is averaging nearly 27 points a game this season — would make several key first-half buckets as the visiting Eagles took a 27-23 lead as the half wound down.

Youngsville got a 3-pointer from Rylan Benton just before the half to cut the red and white deficit to just one at the break.

The third quarter continued the back-and-forth nature of the game with Erie First leading by as many as six points, but Youngsville snagging the lead a couple of times as well.

In the fourth, Erie First pushed its lead to seven at 54-47 with 4:34 to play. Youngsville responded with shots by Moore and Braydon Baker leaving it a three-point game with 3:16 left.

Unfortunately for the hosts, the final run of the night went to Erie First, which closed the game on a 14-3 run that cemented the road victory.

Benton paced the Eagles with 20 points while Manning finished with 15 points and Baker 9 more.

Collins went for 30-plus for the fifth time this season, finishing with a game-high 30 points. Teammate Ayden Blum added 21 points.

The Eagles have a quick turnaround before returning to action today with another home outing against Erie Prep Academy.

ERIE FIRST CHRISTIAN (68)

Collins 10 7-8 30, Blum 8 3-4 21, Gonzalez 5 0-0 11, Tate 1 0-0 2, Ocasio 1 0-0 3, Delinski 0 1-2 1, Totals 25 11-14 68.

YOUNGSVILLE (54)

Rylan Benton 7 3-4 20, Braydon Baker 4 1-1 9, David Manning 6 0-0 15, Cash Moore 2 0-0 4, Ethan Beers 3 0-0 6, Josh Pikna 0 0-0 0, Totals 22 4-5 54.

3-point goals– Collins 3, Blum 2, Gonzalez, Ocasio, Benton 3, Manning 3

Erie First Christian 12 15 19 22 — 68

Youngsville 17 9 14 14 — 54