DEFENSE GETS JUNIOR HIGH BEARCATS TO TITLE GAME

Defense got the junior high Bearcats to a District 3A-4 championship game last night.

Midway through the final quarter Paris led 24-18 but Drake Brackney responded with a 3 to cut the lead in half.

A Sadler Miller (shown leading a break in a December game) steal and layup cut it to 24-23 with 2:01 to play.

Paris, the two-seed in the tournament got a basket but missed an and-one opportunity that made it 26-23 with 1:41 remaining.

The Bearcats (18-5), who are seeded third, were unable to score and when Paris got the ball back.

Leading 26-23 the Eagles were seemingly content to force the Bearcats to put them on the free throw line but the Bearcats had other ideas.

Hayden (HD) Daniel had a steal and a layup got the Bearcats within 26-25 with 44 seconds remaining.

On the next possession it was Brackney knocking a bounce pass away at half court and taking it in for a layup and the lead, 27-26 with 27 seconds left.

After a timeout with 21.6 to go the Bearcats burned a foul with 19.4 seconds to go but another Eagle turnover without a shot was collected by Brackney and he was fouled.

With 3.1 seconds to play Brackney hit one of two free throws after a series of timeouts and the necessary five foul count to allow free throws.

Callen Montalvo tracked down the rebound on the miss and was fouled he also hit one of two for a 29-26 lead with 1.6 seconds to go.

The Bearcats had opened the game on a 7-0 run, capped by a Miller 3 that forced Paris to call a time out.

At the half the Bearcats were still up by seven, 13-6, but the Eagles scored the first 11 points of the second half and led until the Brackney layup.

Having eliminated Paris, who had twice beaten them, the Bearcats will now face a regular season champion Lamar team who beat them in Lamar in the only meeting between the schools tonight at 7:20 in Lavaca.

The regular season runner-up Lady Bearcats (12-8) saw their season come to an end Wednesday with a loss to third seeded Mansfield 42-24.