MARIETTA - North Cobb may have won, 50-48, over Lassiter on Saturday in the Atlanta High School Hoop Festival at the Cobb Civic Center, but the Warriors found out that double-digit leads aren't always secure in the fourth quarter.

North Cobb was near perfect in the third quarter, outscoring Lassiter by a 14-4 margin. The Warriors forced turnovers and turned many of them into points while denying a single Trojan field goal in the process.

Lassiter's only third-quarter points came on two sets of free throws by Ryan DeVeikis.

"We played better defensively in the third quarter and got a few easy shots in transition," North Cobb coach Terry Gorsuch said.

Darren Waller had a productive third quarter for North Cobb (5-4) and led the Warriors with 14 points.

With the Warriors holding on to a slim 22-21 lead at halftime, Waller got things started in the second half with a putback, which ignited an 11-0 spurt. Wayne Brown and Jalen Clark contributed to the run with a 3-pointer and layup, respectively, before the run concluded with Waller's coast-to-coast layup after a steal.

To win, however, North Cobb had to overcome excellent free-throw shooting by Lassiter in the fourth quarter. Niles Clark led the Trojans with 17 points, 11 of which came from fourth-quarter free throws.

Trailing, 36-25, at the end of the third quarter, Lassiter started hitting its target in the third quarter, and a 3 by Julian Ikpelue cut the North Cobb lead to eight.

The Trojans continued hitting their shots in the fourth quarter before a 3-pointer by Joey Parry trimmed the North Cobb lead to 40-38.

"We decided to finally play hard," Lassiter coach Jeremy Morris said. "We had to sit some guys to motivate them before we started playing with effort and with purpose."

Clark hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 40-all, and the game became a free-throw shooting contest. Clark nailed another pair to give Lassiter a brief 43-41 lead before North Cobb answered with five straight foul shots to reclaim the lead at 46-43.

An offensive foul then got Lassiter in trouble, and North Cobb answered with three additional free throws to open a 49-43 advantage, but Lassiter continued battling.

Clark's free-throw shooting helped cut North Cobb's lead to one point, but the Warriors' Jalen Clark hit the back end of a pair of free throws to increase the North Cobb lead to two points. The game ended when Eddie Cengic rebounded a missed Lassiter shot.