Another tough lesson came Friday night when South scored on its first second-half possession to close to within eight points of visiting West Forsyth, but then found itself down by 19 and out of the game a mere four minutes later.

South (4-11, 0-2) ultimately fell 85-63 to the Titans, who were mighty impressive in their league opener.

With Damien Argrett scoring eight points in the first quarter, South trailed the Titans (12-4) by only 21-18 after eight minutes and was very much in the game at halftime, still down only 39-29.

But in the third quarter, the Titans conducted an offensive clinic.

South had little choice but to gang up on 6-8 West monster J.K. Edwards who had amassed 16 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks by halftime. And when South swarmed and double-teamed the menacing Edwards, he relocated the ball to open teammates. And his teammates made shots — nearly all of them.

“J.K. can pass and will pass,” said Titan coach David Laton. “That’s why he’s a good player.”

Well, that and shoulders wider than a supermarket aisle and the quick-jumping ability of a gazelle.

Feeding off Edwards’ immense presence, West sank eight of its first nine field goal attempts in the second half, including nets-only 3-pointers from the wings by Mark Mason and C.J. Paul.

“South did a nice job in the first half,” said Laton. “But in the third quarter we hit inside and out and did a great job on the boards. Plus, our defense was very good and got us a lot of easy fastbreak points.”

South coach John Davis wasn’t kidding when he explained that when he called a timeout in the midst of that vicious third-quarter onslaught, his kids came to the bench upbeat, confident that they were holding their own.

“Then,” he said, “they looked up at the scoreboard and went, ‘Gosh, are we really down that far?’ We didn’t play badly for the most part, but we were up against a team that played great. They made open 3s and they made 3s with our guys running at them. You have to give up the low percentage outside shot and try to take away the layup, but when a team shoots like they did from deep, there’s not much you can do.”

The Titans’ clinching run was scarily efficient. It didn’t seem like anything crazy was happening. The crowd was calm. Edwards wasn’t slamming everything in sight and South wasn’t turning the ball over.

But the Raiders missed on a couple of easy chances and West just wasn’t missing anything from anywhere. And suddenly, the game was out of hand.

“Once we get it clicking,” allowed Laton, whose team lost by a single point recently to mighty R.J. Reynolds, “we can be a pretty tough team.”

All told, the Titans nailed a whopping 10 3-pointers, including four in the decisive third. They shot 52 percent from the field for the game.

South answered with some difficult, hanging 2s from Drew King and Tore’ Girty, three 3-point bombs from Doug Daugherty and occasional stickbacks and free throws by Maurice Torrence and Argrett, but there was no way it had enough firepower to keep pace with the torrid Titans.

West’s lead actually soared to as many as 32 points at 72-40 early in the fourth quarter after Paul lobbed to Edwards, who lifted his 250-plus pounds skyward and nudged the ball gently off the glass to cap a blistering 33-9 tear.

The 85-63 final was eerily similar to South’s 83-63 loss to Mount Tabor in its first league game on Tuesday. And it’s not going to get any easier. Next is Reynolds, probably the league’s best team. After that comes 15-1 Davie County.

“I told the guys that the basketball gods set the schedule and all we can do is play it,” said Davis. “But we’ve played hard and these kids will continue to play hard. We’re sure not going to roll over for anyone.”

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NOTES: Edwards finished with 20 points, 17 boards and six blocks. ... Argrett finished with 15 points for his 11th game in double figures. Daugherty scored 12 and Torrence had 11, nine of them in a fourth-quarter surge. ... Mason hit four 3s and scored 16, while Paul had three 3s and 13. South was 3-for-13 in the third quarter, while West went a sizzling 10-for-14. ... Davie’s Jim Young was on hand to do some scouting. His War Eagles host West Forsyth on Tuesday.

WEST FORSYTH (85) — Edwards 20, Paul 13, Dozier 2, Stevens 4, Melton, Bullis 6, Mason 16, King 6, Wright 4, Summers, Crews 11, Kato 3.

SOUTH (63) — Cook, Daugherty 12, Beck 2, Faggart 3, Girty 7, Argrett 15, Torrence 11, King 8, Kennedy 3, Childers 2, Miller.