MOUNT AIRY - At the Mt. Airy Thanksgiving Tournament this past weekend, the Buckin’ Elks got all they could handle from two Northwest Conference powerhouses.

The Elkin boys dropped two heart-breakers in the weekend tournament by a combined four points, while the Lady Elks were blown out in both games.

In the first game against host Mt. Airy, the Elks blew an eight-point, fourth-quarter lead and fell 50-49.

After grabbing a 40-32 lead at the end of three quarters of play, Elkin withstood a furious Granite Bear comeback and held a 47-43 lead with just under two minutes to play.

Mt. Airy battled back as Austin Taylor hit a floater with 10 ticks left to put the Granite Bears up one at 50-49.

The Elks raced the ball up court to call a timeout and run a set play. But the ensuing in-bounds pass was picked off by Taylor, who dribbled out the clock to seal the comeback victory for Mt. Airy.

Senior Frank Miller stormed out of the gates, scoring nine first-quarter points and recorded 11 at the half, while Sam Lane finished with nine points in the half and 14 points in the game.

In Game Two against East Surry, poor free throwing shooting sunk Elkin as the Cardinals held on for the 68-65 victory.

After the Elks built an 18-14 first-quarter advantage, East battled back and grabbed a seven-point lead at the break.

Coming out of the locker room, Elkin only shot 2-for-7 from the charity stripe in the third as the Cards pushed their lead to 54-43 heading to the final quarter.

In the fourth, Lane, who scored 13 points in the frame, jump-started a rally that fell just short. Eli Gilbert sank two key free throws with 49.1 seconds left to ice the game for East Surry.

Lane finished with 30 points on the night and inches closer to the 1,000th-point milestone with 964 career points in an Elkin uniform.

For the girls, the Lady Elks ran into two buzzsaws and were swept, falling 74-29 to Mt. Airy and 71-38 to East Surry.

The Elkin boys dropped to 1-2 on the year after the holiday tournament, while the Lady Elks are still searching for their first victory at 0-3.

Elkin returns to the court Tuesday night when they host South Stokes.

Reach Matthew Gorry at 835-1513 or mgorry@heartlandpublications.com.