BEARCATS REACH REGIONAL FINALS FOR FIRST TIME

While the senior boys game is typically the final game of a regular season night, Booneville’s boys have carried that over into the postseason.

Last Tuesday, Thursday and Friday night the Booneville Bearcats closed the nightly play at the District 3A-4 tournament in Hackett.

This week the Bearcats (19-8) have played the final game of the Class 3A Region 1 tournament they are hosting on both Thursday and Friday night, the most recent a 51-42 win over Elkins.

When the Bearcats play the last of four games at Bearcat Gym at 7:30 tonight, they will be playing in a regional championship for the first time in school history.

On Friday the Bearcats used a 13-0 run over four and a half minutes to take control of their game with Elkins and earn their way into the finals.

There were six first quarter lead changes, the last being a 3 that gave the Elks an 11-10 lead with 48 seconds to play in the quarter.

Dakota Mattson (shown) answered that with his second 3 19 seconds later and Cody Sum closed the quarter with a basket on an assist from Noah Harrel just beating the buzzer for a 15-11 lead.

The score was unchanged for two and a half minutes before Harrel scored from inside, then again from outside in a span of 38 seconds and, after Dax Goff had an assist on a 3 by Colter Fisher it was 23-11.

Elkins, who lost for only the fourth time this season, hit back to back 3s to cut it to 23-17 with 3:14 left in the first half and the only scoring for the rest of the half was a free throw by Harrel that made it 24-17.

Scoring four of the first five Bearcat points in the third quarter Goff began to assert himself early in the second half and after baskets inside by Sum and outside by Mattson it was 34-20 with 5:11 left in the third quarter.

Again Elkins drained consecutive 3s in just 24 and the difference was back to eight.

However, the Elks would not score again in the quarter and Harrel, Goff and Mattson combined for the next 10 points to open a lead of 44-26.

That trio led the Bearcats in scoring with Mattson scoring 14 points and both Harrel and Goff 12.

Elkins cut it back to 13 early in the final quarter but Goff answered with a conventional three point play to make it 47-31.

The Elks were still down 10 with 2:16 remaining when the Bearcats worked on the shot clock and hit four free throws over the final two minutes to nail it down.

The win moves the Bearcats into the finals against Bergman, who beat Hackett in the first semifinal game of the day.

Both the Bearcats and Bergman were two seeds in the tournament while both Elkins and Hackett, who will play for the three seed in the state tournament, were one seeds.