Raiden Ferguson hit three 3s in the final 1:44 of the first half to give the Bearcats a lead they would not relinquish in a 68-54 win over Cedarville Friday night.
Ferguson’s first 3 in the series tied the game at 30-30 and completed the erasure of a nine-point Pirate lead.
It stayed that way until 22 seconds remained — the Pirates missed a one-and-one opportunity with 42.8 seconds to go in the half — when Ferguson hit a 3 to give the Bearcats their first lead since it was 7-6.
It was Ferguson hitting his fourth 3 — he scored the first basket of the night — to beat the halftime buzzer to make it 36-30.
Ferguson would finish with those 12 points.
The Bearcats started the second half by extending the run to 14-0 with a Dakota Mattson basket and Colter Fisher hitting three of four free throw chances pushing the Bearcat lead to 41-30.
Cedarville would cut it to 41-35 only to have the Bearcats race to a 55-41 lead by the end of the quarter.
They did so with sophomores accounting for every point scored the rest of the quarter — a run that would extend to 19 straight and 25 of 27 points to close the game.
Mattson started the attack with a 3 and another basket. A Jace Washburn bucket made it 48-41. Macolen Tillery (shown) muscled home a putback then added a basket on an assist from Mattson.
Washburn would lead the Bearcats with 16 points and seven rebounds.
The highlight of the run was the buzzer beating half-court shot thrown in by Noah Harrel to make it a 14-point game.
Mattson hit another 3 and another two-pointer from Washburn gave the Bearcats their biggest lead at 60-45 with 5:15 to go.
Mattson finished with 10 points and three assists.
A basket by Fisher made it a 15-point cushion again at 62-47 with 3:48 left before Cedarville made a small push to cut it to 11 with 2:54 remaining, then to 10 at 64-54 with 1:29 left.
But six seconds later Washburn hit a pair of free throws, giving him four straight made from the line, and two more by Harrel with 44.4 to go would finish off the Pirates.
That gave Harrel five points to go with four assists and five steals.
The Bearcats will take the floor tonight at 6:30 in Hackett. The game had been scheduled for Tuesday but was moved in advance of a forecasted winter storm. Because it is Hackett's homecoming game the boys will play first.
FERGUSON, SOPHOMORES FUEL BEARCAT TAKEOVER
