CARTER KEYS SECOND QUARTER RUN

Sophomore Aiden Carter scored eight second quarter points that helped turn the tide for the Booneville Bearcats as they beat Paris 64-54 in the District 3A-4 semifinals in Paris Thursday night.

The Bearcats (15-8) led 12-11 when Raiden Ferguson hit a 3 22 seconds before the opening quarter ended and it was a four point lead.

After a Colter Fisher bucket Carter (shown) scored his first points to make it 19-11 with 7:15 left in the first half.

Paris then went on a 10-0 run to take a 21-19 lead with 3:34 to play in the half. But, the Eagles did not score again in the half.

Carter would.

He tied it by taking a pass from Fisher and putting it in from inside the paint. After a Dakota Mattson score with 1:08 left in the half, Carter got loose inside again but was fouled and hit both free throws.

Another Fisher basket gave the Bearcats a 29-21 lead at the intermission.

C.J. Johnson hit a 3 to give the Bearcats a double-digit lead with 7:19 to go in the third quarter but Paris cut that to 32-27 in a span of just 19 seconds.

Johnson hit another 3 – he scored 10 in the game – and Jace Washburn dropped in one of his own and it was back to an 11 point edge at 38-27 with 4:32 left in the third quarter.

Paris got within seven only to have Fisher hit a pair of free throws at the 3:30 mark of the quarter and then cut it to six but a pair of 3s by Washburn and Carter scored his ninth point at the free throw line to make it 47-34 with 1:33 to go in the third.

An Eagle 3 cut it back to 10 but the Bearcats got a 3 from Ferguson and a Fisher basket to make it 52-37 through three quarters.

Fisher took the game over in the final quarter. The junior had scored 12 to that point but ran that total to 20 over the final eight minutes.

Paris cut it to 13 and Fisher scored. The Eagles cut it to 13 again and Dakota Mattson put in a running one hander. A 3 made it a 12-point game and Mattson did it again and it was 58-44 with 4:41 to play.

From there Fisher scored twice and the lead would be 62-48 with 2:12 to play.

Paris made a push to get it to 62-54 and got a break with three straight Bearcat misses at the free throw line but Fisher put it away with two from the line with 4.2 seconds left to push it to 64-54.

The Bearcats advance to the finals at 7:30 Friday night against Cossatot River. The fifth seeded Eagles beat Two Rivers on Monday, Cedarville on Tuesday, and Charleston in overtime on Thursday to reach the championship game.

The winner of tonight's district championship game will play at 8:30 on Wednesday, February 22 in the Class 3A Region 1 tournament against the four seed from the 3A-1. The loser will play at 5:30 on Thursday, February 23, against the three seed from the 3A-1. The Region 1 Tournament is set for West Fork.