The Effingham County Rebels basketball team had their shot at beating Hardeeville (S.C.) on Tuesday night.

But they missed 36 of 47 attempts from the field, including Perry Herbert’s would-be game-tying 3-pointer with less than 20 seconds to go, and fell 39-34 to the Hurricanes.

“We didn’t make our shots,” Rebels coach Travis Dickey said. “We didn’t get after loose balls and we didn’t rebound. We didn’t come ready to play tonight.”

Hardeeville, behind Derrick Roberts, jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never trailed. The Rebels didn’t get their first basket until Nolan Spake’s 3-pointer at the 1:50 mark of the first quarter. Perry Herbert’s layup on Darryl Wright’s long outlet pass cut the deficit to 12-8.

The Hurricanes widened the lead to 10 twice in the second quarter as the Rebels didn’t get a field goal for a stretch of 8:41. But they still only trailed by four as Herbert hung in the air to sink a jumper with 6:19 left in the third. Jon Duff’s baseline drive brought the Rebels to within 26-24 with 8 seconds to play in the period, the closest they had been since the first minute of the game.

Tremaine Harris closed the period with a 16-foot jumper, and the Rebels got no closer than three points the rest of the way.

Harris’ basket with 2 minutes to play gave the Hurricanes a 36-29 lead before Steven Tarpley hit a 3-pointer and Herbert hit two free throws to cut it to 37-34.

It was Effingham’s first home game since the Jan. 5 meeting with South Effingham.

“We played three games on the road last week, three tight games, and won two of them,” Dickey said. “We got a chance to play in our own gym and we didn’t make it happen.”

Herbert and Wright had 10 points each for the Rebels (5-10) while Duff and Marquel Manior each had four points. Spake and Tarpley finished with three points apiece.

Roberts led the Hurricanes with 16 points and Roman Hughes added 12 points.