By Gabe Souza, Globe Correspondent

With nine seconds remaining in the game and his team down by one, Brighton senior Bernadin St. Vil stepped to the free throw line with a chance to give his Bengals the lead.

But there was one problem. The 6-foot-5 center isn’t exactly known for his skills at the charity stripe, coach Hugh Coleman said. And he had yet to hit any of his six free throws that day.

Shrugging off his previous failed attempts, St. Vil stepped to the line, netted both free throws, and Brighton (11-2) held on for a 60-59 win over its Boston City South rival Dorchester.

“Our seniors really stepped up tonight,” Coleman said. “All year it’s been our young guys who have led us, but tonight it was our seniors."

Senior center Mitchell Jean-Louis had 17 points and 20 rebounds for Brighton, while sophomore point guard Malik James scored the first triple-double of his career, notching 13 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists.

But picking up the team’s 11th victory didn’t look very promising before the start of the game.

Just hours before tip off, Coleman discovered he would be without three of his starters – one because of injury, the other two because of disciplinary actions within the school.

“Once we found that out, we became very uneasy with the situation because it all happened so quickly,” Coleman said. “We called up a few players from JV and asked a lot from our seniors.”

The win ties Brighton with West Roxbury for the second best record in the league behind New Mission, who beat the Bengals twice in the regular season.

Because of weather postponements, Brighton and West Roxbury have yet to play each other this season, but will settle things in a pair of games next week. On Monday (Feb. 14), the Bengals host the Raiders, and Wednesday (Feb. 16) they play at Dorchester.