BUFFALO TWP — Codey Digiacobbe, like the rest of the Freeport boys basketball team, was struggling.

Shots weren't falling. The offense was running anything but smoothly.

But with seven seconds remaining on the clock and down by one against Avonworth, Digiacobbe found the ball in his hands.

The senior guard delivered with a twisting layup with less than two seconds remaining that gave the Yellowjackets a dramatic 47-46 win at the Freeport Christmas Tournament Friday night.

“I was struggling the whole game,” said Digiacobbe, who finished 3-of-12 shooting for six points. “For my teammates to have confidence in me to take the last shot, even though I was struggling like that, it gives me all the faith in the world to get it done.”

Freeport has now played two home games this week that have been decided by last-second shots.

The Yellowjackets (7-2) lost to Valley Tuesday on a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Digiacobbe wasn't about to let his team lose another game that came down to the final seconds.

“Valley definitely hurt us,” Digiacobbe said. “To bounce back like this, it's definitely going to help our confidence level. It's like the greatest feeling.”

Things didn't feel so great for the Yellowjackets for most of the game.

Freeport jumped out to a 12-6 lead at the end of the first quarter, but struggled mightily after that.

Avonworth took a 42-39 lead with two minutes remaining in the game, but the Yellowjackets were able to wrest the lead away at 43-42 a minute later.

The lead changed hands three times in the final minute before Digiacobbe's game-winner.

“I can't say enough about Codey,” said Freeport coach Mike Beale. “He's a senior. He's been around us a long time. He's one of our captains and this is the only sport he plays. I'm happy for him.”

For Beale, the win was much needed.

The coach said he didn't want to have two losses at the buzzer stunting his team's growth this season.

“We talk about bounceability,” Beale said. “We were able to bounce back tonight. It wasn't the prettiest by far, but these kids have been through a lot. I think they are saying, 'We've had enough.'”

Mason Eddinger kept Freeport in the game with 23 points — all coming in the first three quarters.

Eddinger hit four 3-pointers for the Yellowjackets and also had 14 rebounds.

“That's what we needed. He's one of our big guns,” Beale said. “If we're going to win games, we're going to need him. I have all the faith in the world in him. If he doesn't shoot when he has an open shot, he's going to hear me yelling at him.”

Josh Beale was bottled up most of the night and in foul trouble for Freeport. Still, the junior forward finished with 10 points.

Garrett Day led Avonworth (5-5) with 19 points.

Mike Beale is hoping for a cleaner game Saturday when Freeport takes on Kittanning at 6:30 p.m.

“I was happy with the defense, but offensively, we struggled,” the coach said. “I don't know if it was the two days off we gave them for Christmas, but it looked like we haven't picked a basketball up in a week.”

AVONWORTH 46

Garrett Day 8-21 1-3 19, Adam Kramer 0-5 0-2 0, Matt Criley. 3-7 0-0 6, Kyle Crilley 1-7 0-0 3, Cole Jenkins 4-6 0-1 8, Chris O'Malley 5-9 0-0 10. Totals: 21-55 1-6 46.

FREEPORT 47

Mason Eddinger 9-14 1-4 23, Kris Keppel 1-7 5-6 8, Marshall McCormick 0-4 0-0 0, Codey Digiacobbe 3-12 0-0 6, Josh Beale 4-9 1-4 10, Jon Wise 0-0 0-0 0, Kevin Lynch 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 17-49 7-14 47.

Avonworth 6 10 17 13 — 46

Freeport12 6 17 12 — 47

3-point goals: Avonworth 3 (Day 2, K. Crilley); Freeport 6 (Eddinger 4, Keppel, Beale)

Saturday: Kittanning at Freeport, 6:30 p.m.