There may be a new contender in the FHSAA’s Rural classification this season.

On Tuesday night, the Trenton boys basketball team built as much as a 12-point second-half lead at The Rock School and held off a late rally by the Lions for an 80-78 win in Gainesville.

“I think we knew coming in that this would be a really tight, close, hard-fought game,” said Trenton coach Eric Bullis. “Brian (Findley) does a great job. They have great kids. We knew we were going to struggle at times with their quickness on the perimeter, but our hope was that our size advantage would help us, and I think we were probably plus 20 or more rebounding the basketball, so it was going to be a matchup of contrasting styles.”

TRS junior guard Kayden Merricks scored 13 of his game-high 31 points in the fourth quarter, including nine points in the final 55 seconds, to keep the Lions (5-1) in the game.

“Lord, really, that’s amazing because I don’t know how you score a quiet 31, but I guess we were focused more on the outcome of the game than on that,” Findley said when told about Merricks’ point total. “I’m really proud of him. He’s really stepped up this year. He’s done a very good job of kind of jumping into a leadership role and I would even say, outside of the scoring, he did other things defensively, bringing guys together. He’s done a really good job this year at doing things other than just scoring.”

The Rock had an early 6-4 lead on a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Merricks, but Trenton (2-1) answered with a 6-0 run, which began with a left-wing 3-ball by senior Nathan Ridgell (17 points).

After a right-wing 3-pointer by Merricks, who finished with four 3-pointers, the Tigers went on a 7-0 run to take a 17-9 lead.

Junior Marc Micale (6 points, 7 rebounds) had an offensive putback, junior Tyler Bullis made a left-wing 3-pointer, and junior Mason VunCannon added a layup.

Although the Lions (5-1) ended up tying it at 20-all just 18 seconds into the second quarter on a right-corner 3-pointer by Merricks, they never led again.

“I think they’re (Trenton) one of the better teams in this area, I said that for a while after watching them this summer,” Findley said. “They’ve got size. They can all shoot. I think it’s a requirement to be able to shoot 75% from three, number five (VunCannon) played like he was an All-American tonight. I mean, that guy is, he’s good. They’re a tough team. Eric’s a great coach.”

VunCannon led Trenton with 25 points and finished with a double-double, adding 12 rebounds and five assists.

“We saw through our summer stuff and into our fall that he wants the ball in crunch time, and we’re going to get him the basketball and let him go to work,” Bullis said. “He’s a true three-level scorer. He’s got a mid-range, he can post, he can hit threes. He’s a really good player and has got a really bright future for sure.”

Bullis (22 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists) had back-to-back offensive rebounds and putbacks late to give the Tigers their largest lead, 67-55, with 4:24 remaining in the game.

He was also 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final 26 seconds.

“He missed half a year last year with a broken finger and is currently fighting through some partially torn ligaments in his thumb, which is affecting his shooting, but he’s attacking downhill, doing a great job,” Eric Bullis said.

Junior Kyroe Jordan did his best to keep The Rock in the game by scoring 22 points, including 10 in the final quarter.

After Trenton took a 70-59 lead on a right-wing 3-pointer by senior BB Ford with 3:04 remaining, Jordan cut it to single digits on a layup.

“He could have had about 38,” Findley said. “He’s a really good player and was a little off. I mean, that’s crazy to say, he had 22 and he was off, and he’s probably feeling a little bit down about how he played because he missed some layups that he doesn’t typically miss. He’s a relentless defender. He’s one of our dogs out there.”

Jordan and Merricks helped take things over after 6’4 freshman Marco Johnson left the game with an ankle injury in the first half.

The Rock’s varsity team is a non-FHSAA member that plays with a shot clock, but that wasn’t a concern for Trenton, which is averaging 71.7 points through three games.

“We want to play an incredibly fast tempo,” Eric Bullis said. “We feel like we’re the best-conditioned team of any team that we will play. We were better conditioned against Columbia (Lake City) on Saturday (70-69 win in overtime), who run and jump presses all game. We ran them off the floor in overtime, so the faster the better for us. The faster the better.”

Trenton will travel to Newberry on Friday, while The Rock will play on Thursday at the Beach and Ball Classic, beginning with 212 Sports Academy (Sarasota).