RHINEHART 3, BRACKNEY FREE THROWS PUSH JUNIOR HIGH BEARCATS PAST CHARLESTON

Aiden Rhinehart hit a go-ahead 3 pointer with 17 seconds to play and Drake Brackney hit two free throws with 6.2 seconds remaining to lift the Junior High Bearcats to a 48-45 win over Charleston Monday night.

Charleston broke a 43-43 tie with a pair of free throws with 29.9 seconds to play only to have Rhinehart drill a 3 from the top of the key for a 46-45 lead.

Charleston had a chance to retake the lead but missed two free throws with 6.2 seconds left and Brakeny was fouled on a rebound attempt.

After Brackeny, who scored 19 points, hit both free throws – it was Charleston’s fifth foul of the quarter – the Tigers took their final time out but would not get a shot attempt off in hopes of forcing overtime.

After Charleston scored the first 7 points of the night, the Bearcats had trailed most of the game.

The Bearcats (8-2, 4-0 Conference 3A-4) got it to 14-11 by the end of the first quarter as Brackney scored his team’s first 8 points.

Baskets by Callen Montalvo and Matthew Barber at the 5:34 and 4:18 marks of the second quarter, respectively, made it a one point game but Charleston was able to push their lead back to 24-18 at the half.

Besides the final 2 points of the first half the Tigers scored the first 9 of the second half and led by 15 at 33-18.

The Bearcats stopped the assault with a Montalvo basket and Rhinehart’s first 3 but it was still a double digit deficit of 39-28 going to the final quarter.

Doing it 3 at a time, the Bearcats went on a 15-0 run to take their first lead.
Edwin Garcia started and ended the run with a 3, the later making it 43-39.

Between Garcia's 3s, Montalvo and Brakney had conventional 3-point plays and Brackney hit another 3 for the first Bearcat lead of the night at 40-39.

Charleston scored the next 6 points going back in front with 29.9 seconds left.

Junior Girls

The Junior High Lady Bearcats, who were on the court for the first time since December 9th, never got untracked after Charleston scored the first 13 points on the way to a 50-16 decision.

Evelyn Rogers would score 7 points to lead the Lady Bearcats and Chloe Walker added 6.

7th Grade

Charleston also won both seventh grade games, 26-4 in girls play and 27-15 in boys play. Breckyn Denton scored 9 points in the boys game and Sophie Shaffer and Clara Diffee accounted for the girls points.

All four teams were scheduled to play again Thursday in Paris, but in order to avoid a possible postponement, the junior high games have been moved to tomorrow, starting with the junior girls starting at 4:30. There will be no seventh grade games.