WASHBURN SCORES 10 IN FINAL 3:32, LEADS BEARCATS TO WIN OVER PARIS

Jace Washburn scored 10 of his 16 points in the final 3:32 of the game last night to lead the Booneville Bearcats to a 49-36 win over Paris in the District 3A-4 tournament being held at Bearcat Gymnasium.

Washburn (shown) was fouled with 3:32 to go and hit the first of two free throws. The misfire was rebounded by Wesley Fonseca and Washburn shifted to his left and called out to his teammate.

Fonseca tossed the ball to Washburn and he drained a 3 to make it 39-33.

Paris got one free throw with 2:53 to play but a miss on the second attempt was in the process of being rebounded by Washburn when he was fouled.

With Paris in the bonus Washburn walked to the other end of the floor and hit two free throws to make it 41-34.

After the Eagles were unable to answer offensively the Bearcats drained the shot clock and with a 3 by Washburn making its way through the net while the shot clock lights were illuminating it was 44-34.

Single free throws by Aiden Carter and Washburn made it 46-34 with 1:01 to play and a basket by Dakota Mattson who outran everyone after a long rebound, made it a 13-1 run.

Carter closed the Bearcat scoring with another free throw with 20.6 seconds to go.

That gave Carter a season high 14 points.

Carter sandwiched a basket between two baskets by Mattson, one on a steal and lay-in and the other a 3 to get the Bearcats off to a 7-0 lead, and, although Paris would score the next 7, the Bearcats would never trail.

The Bearcats would lead by six at 15-9 with 5:24 left in the half after a Fonseca basket.

It was 18-13 with 4:20 to play in the half after a 3 by Carter that came after the Paris bench area urged him to shoot when left open.

Paris got a 3 to cut it to 18-16 but a Washburn basket stretched it back to four at 20-16 at the half.

Carter started the second half scoring with his second 3 and the Bearcats matched their largest lead to that point.

However, Paris was able to cut it to 27-25 by the end of the quarter and after a pair of Carter baskets started the final quarter it was 31-25 and the Eagles took a time out.

The Eagles got it to 35-33 with 4:27 to go setting the stage for Washburn to take it over.

The Bearcats move into the quarterfinals to face third seeded Lavaca this evening at 5:20 with a regional tournament berth up for grabs. The Bearcats swept the Golden Arrows in the regular season.