BEARCATS ARE TWO SEED IN STATE TOURNAMENT

After being down by 21 at halftime the Bearcats made a little bit of a push to get the deficit down to 15 on one of Dakota Mattson’s six three pointers Saturday night in the Class 3A Region 1 championship game.

In two minutes Bergman had reestablished a 20-point cushion and went on to an 80-49 win.

The Bearcats (19-9) will now be the region’s two seed and play in the state tournament against 3A Region 3 third seeded Central Arkansas Christian in Elkins at 5:30 on Thursday.

On Saturday Mattson led the Bearcats, who reached the regional finals for the first time in school history, with 20 points.

Mattson hit a pair of 3s within 32 seconds midway through the second quarter to cut a 15-point Bergman lead to just nine but the Panthers closed the half with a 12-0 run and were in complete control.

Playing his last game in his home gym, senior Colter Fisher (shown against Elkins) also had a big game with 19 points for the Bearcats, including 13 in the second half. Fisher also had three assists.

Dax Goff, the only other senior on the roster, had another big rebounding night with 10, and also had three assists.