BEARCATS GET OFFENSIVE ON WAY TO DISTRICT FINALS

The Bearcats used their largest offensive night of the season to topple the Two Rivers Gators Tuesday night in the quarterfinal round of the Conference 3A-4 tournament in Hackett, punching their ticket to next week's Class 3A Region 1 tournament.

With 2:36 to go in the first quarter Dakota Mattson hit a 3 to give the Bearcats a 22-2 lead over the Gators a team the Bearcats had twice enacted the sportsmanship rule against.

But with 1:45 to play in the half the lead was only 36-31, though the scoreboard read 38-31.

Twice in the second half it was a six-point game before the Bearcats (16-7) finally put the Gators away, 78-65.

The Bearcats scored the first 13 points of the night in just over three minutes with Cody Sum scoring inside three times and Noah Harrel hitting a 3 for his first points to make it 13-0.

Sum would score 11 first quarter points before being slowed by foul trouble and eventually finishing with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Harrel, who hit another 3 after Two Rivers scored its first basket, would lead the Bearcats with 27 points.

After the lead was 22-2 Two Rivers ran off nine straight in 50 seconds and before the quarter ended had the deficit down to a single digit, though it would not stay that way for long as the Bearcats led 27-14 through one.

The Gators again cut it to seven with 3:30 to play but Colter Fisher scored a conventional three point play with 2:49 to go in the half but the score increased by five to 37-25 rather than 35-25.

An extra two points remained on the home side while through a conventional three-point play by the Gators made it 38-31. The mistake was later corrected when a Wesley Fonseca basket was not credited that kept it 38-31.

The lead grew to 42-31 only to have it cut to nine with a last second 3 and it was 42-34 at the half.

The first five minutes of the second half were all Bearcats, to the tune of 11-0 and the lead was 19 at 53-34.

The Gators answered quickly again cutting it back to 55-43 before the quarter ended.

The Bearcats led 65-51 with 5:33 to go before Two Rivers scored six of a possible eight points on one possession with a conventional three point play, one from a technical foul, and two with the extra possession.

Fisher scored six points over the final 4:19 to guide the Bearcats into next week’s regional tournament to be hosted by the Bearcats. Fisher finished the night with 21 points and eight assists.

The Bearcats will next face second seeded Charleston at 8:30 Thursday with the winner advancing to the tournament finals. The teams split the regular season meetings.