CHOCOWINITY — Tough.

That’s the word senior Demetrius Ebron used to describe this basketball season. He and Southside rolled into Tuesday’s senior-night game against South Creek still looking for their first 1-A Coastal Plains Conference win.

Ebron helped push the Seahawks past South Creek, 46-45, for their first league win. He finished a layup through contact and completed the 3-point play at the line to pull his team within a shot, 42-39. Kevin White’s trey gave Southside its first lead of the half, 44-42.

South Creek’s Zikeyai Cherry had a 3-point play at his own to reclaim the lead with 35.8 seconds left. Will Warren’s free throw knotted the game, and Ebron’s make from the charity stripe was just enough for the victory.

“Just make it,” Ebron said of his train of thought while at the free-throw line. “I had been struggling at the line all night. It was a big free throw. I had to make it. It felt great. We had a tough senior night last year. Football, we had a tough senior night. We came in here and got a senior-night win.”

The win was the memory these seniors will hang onto from this season. Ebron is one of eight seniors on the team, but the Seahawks have run with a largely young lineup throughout the season. Many of the other Seahawk elders have been role players this year.

“We were upbeat. Everybody was ready to play,” coach Sean White said. “We knew going in that it could be a tight game. … Those seniors, they won’t remember the other wins or some of the losses, but they’ll remember this win here on senior night.”

Southside and South Creek traded jabs throughout the first half. The visitors opened a 5-0 lead, but a triple by senior Taiwan Ebron gave the Seahawks their first lead, 9-7, with 45 seconds left in the first quarter.

Neither team led by more than two in the second. Jahrkkene Clark nailed a 3 late in the half to help South Creek draw even, 14-14, by the intermission.

It was Southside’s defense — coupled with some poor shooting from the Cougars — that kept a late surge within reach. The Seahawks employed a 2-3 zone for most of their 65-62 loss at South Creek on Jan. 13. They used a man-to-man defense to neutralize the Cougars this time around.

“We’ve grown and worked on it in practice,” White said. “That’s one thing that we’ve made a point to get better at. We played great. … We planned on doing this. We were man-to-man at half court, and we did trap a bit in the half court. It seemed to be working.”

South Creek used a flurry capped off by a Cherry trey to extend its lead to 30-20 in the third. Two layups from Zack Green and a perfect trip to the line by senior Brandon Sullivan narrowed it to 32-26 going into the fourth.