With 13.9 seconds to play Dax Goff hit one of two free throws to give the Bearcats a 45-43 lead over Charleston in the semifinals of the Conference 3A-4 tournament.
With 3.9 seconds to go Charleston had a chance to tie it at the line and got the first free throw to fall, but missed on the second, then got two chances to win it with second chance points on offensive rebounds, but both missed.
Goff (shown) rebounded the second miss, his 12th of the night, and the Bearcats (17-7) move on to the tournament championship tonight at 7:30 against Hackett with a 45-44 win.
No more than eight points separated the teams, who split the season series with each winning on the other’s floor.
Buoyed by three 3 pointers, Charleston led 13-6 with 3:19 to go in the first quarter but the Bearcats would score the next 10 with Dakota Mattson, Goff, Colter Fisher, Noah Harrel and Goff again all scoring traditional two pointers.
In fact every Bearcat point until the final minute of the third quarter came on two point shots.
The run became one of 16-2 when Fisher scored with 2:25 left in the first half to make it 22-15 but Charleston trimmed it to 24-21 by halftime.
The Tigers used a 3 to pull even with 7:13 left in the third quarter and would again knot things up at 30-30 with 1:10 to play in the quarter.
Harrel, who led the Bearcats with 14 points, sank a 3 on the next possession for a 33-30 edge going to the final quarter.
Harrel made it a personal 8-0 run with a couple more baskets and the first Bearcat free throw of the night with 4:33 to go and it was 38-30.
Charleston cut it to 38-35 on a 3 with 3:16 left but Mattson had a layup and Goff a jumper in a 27 second span for a seven point cushion at 42-35.
The Tigers scored the next eight, going in front, 43-42, on a free throw attachment of a conventional three point play with 37.1 seconds to go.
Fisher threw in a pair of free throws with 28.6 seconds left for a 44-43 Bearcat lead.
That gave Fisher 12 on the night, and after Charleston could not answer Goff got the rebound and was fouled resulting in the senior hitting one of two for a two point lead setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
The Bearcats move into tonight’s 7:30 p.m. finals against tournament host Hackett, with whom the Bearcats split this season with, like Charleston both teams winning on the road, and both by six points.
Tonight’s winner will be the top seed from the 3A-4 in next week’s Class 3A Region 1 field and will face Valley Springs at 5:30 Wednesday. The tournament runner-up will play at 8:30 Thursday against Lincoln.
BEARCATS WIN THRILLER OVER CHARLESTON 45-44 TO REACH CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
