MARIETTA - Osborne appeared to be pulling away from Washington County as it went on a big run early in the fourth quarter.

Washington County responded with a run of its own and came back to beat Osborne, 53-51, in the Cardinals' season opener at the Osborne Thanksgiving Classic on Friday.

Kentorey Jackson scored on a putback with 3.5 seconds left to complete an 8-1 Washington County run and provide the visiting Hawks with their margin of victory.

It was only a little while earlier that Osborne appeared to be control as the Cardinals came back from a seven-point deficit late in the third quarter and went on a 15-2 run to put them up by six late in the fourth quarter.

"We played weak in the first half, but we started to wake up by the start of the fourth quarter," Osborne coach John Jenkins said. "We started to hit some big threes and we got some big momentum, but we couldn't hit anything down the stretch."

Washington County struggled for most of the game itself, with missed layups and turnovers plaguing the Hawks.

"It was an ugly win," Washington County coach Carlos Hope. "The kids played hard, but it was an ugly win. We made too many turnovers and missed too many layups, but Osborne had a lot to do with that. Defensively, coach Jenkins did a good job."

Justin Browner scored 14 points and Paul Allen added 12 to lead the way for Osborne (0-1).

For Washington County (2-0), a state quarterfinalist in Class AAA last year, Kentorey Johnson and Jared Harris scored 11 points each and Melvin Johnson contributed 10.

Washington County appeared to be on the upswing late in the third quarter as the Hawks led 38-31 with 1:36 left.

Osborne quickly narrowed the gap as Josh Henderson hit a 3-pointer and Browner nailed another 3 to cut Washington County's lead to 38-37 with 33 seconds left in the third quarter.

Another 3-pointer by Browner gave Osborne a 40-38 lead with 7:30 remaining in the game and after a layup by Kentorey Johnson tied the game at 40, Browner hit yet another 3 and then was fouled on a layup and made his free throw to increase the Cardinals advantage to 46-40 with 6:21 left.

A 3-pointer by Melvin Johnson cut Osborne's lead in half to 48-45 with 4:46 left, but a couple of free throws by Marquez Williams pushed the Cardinals advantage back up to 50-45 with 3:55 left.

A couple of 3 pointers changed everything for Washington County as Harris hit back-to-back treys, the second one coming after Kentorey Johnson blocked an Osborne shot at the other end of the floor, to put the Hawks back in front 51-50 with 1:31 left.

Williams hit one of two free throws to tie the game 51-51 with 1:15 left, but Kentorey Johnson's putback gave Washington County a 53-51 lead that it held after Devonte Thornton's desperation heave from halfcourt at the buzzer missed.

"We were up 50-45, but we only scored one point after that," Jenkins said. "Washington County made a good run and we started to throw the ball away."

Osborne will play McEachern today at 7:30 p.m. to wrap up the two-day Thanksgiving Classic.

McEachern opened its regular season on a strong note with a 6 3-32 victory over Cedar Shoals on Friday.

The Indians led 18-8 at the end of the first quarter and then outscored Cedar Shoals 43-22 over the next two quarters to pull away even further.

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