by Malcolm Butler
For three and a half quarters Tuesday night, Cedar Creek simply couldn’t accomplish much on the hardwood.
And by the time the Cougars (8-4) did find some offense, their furious 11th hour rally came up just short in a 45-44 loss to Beekman Charter (9-4).
After the two teams traded buckets for the first quarter and opening minute of the second quarter, the Cougars and the Tigers found themselves tied at 12-12.
However, that’s when things went south for Creek.
The Cougars went more than four minutes without a point while Beekman Charter used a 12-0 run to grab a 24-12 advantage with 2:30 to play in the frame. The Tigers used second chance points off offensive rebounds and putbacks to extend their lead.
A Jack Bell lane jumper snapped the scoring drought as Creek trailed 28-18 at the half.
Beekman Charter scored the first four points of the third quarter to push its advantage to 32-18 before Cameron Temple’s layup with 5:45 to play made it 32-20. The Tigers then scored four straight to make it 36-20 with 5 minutes remaining in the third — it would be the last field goals made in the quarter as both teams went over eight minutes without a bucket.
The Tigers finally stopped their scoring drought with back-to-back buckets with just over five minutes to play in the contest to build their largest lead of the game at 41-23.
That’s when the Cougars began utilizing a full-court press and Beekman Charter started throwing the ball all over the gym.
A Landon Hall lane jumper with 4:35 to play made it 41-25 and began a 16-2 run over the next three minutes to close the gap. A Canon Robbins layup with 1:28 to play made the score 43-39 in favor of Beekman Charter.
Creek had a number of opportunities over the final 90 seconds as Beekman Charter hit just two free throws while continuing to be ultra-aggressive despite the clock being on its side.
Robbins hit a layup with 16 seconds to play to make it 45-41. Beekman Charter then missed a pair of free throws with 15 seconds to play, but the Tigers pulled down the offensive rebound.
However, another turnover gave the ball back to the Cougars and Cameron Temple’s three-pointer as the buzzer sounded made the final score 45-44. It’s the Cougars third home loss of the season.
Cannon Robbins scored 20 to lead the Cougars while Cameron Temple added eight.
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Cedar Creek Scoring: FG(3)-FT=Total Points
Cameron Temple 3(2)-0=8; Cannon Robbins 5(2)-8=20; Brett Bell 2(1)-0=5; Luke Waldron 1-0=2; Landon Hall 1-0=2; Jack Bell 1-0=2; Jake Terry 2-1=5. Totals: 15(5)-9=44.
Score by Quarters
Beekman Charter 8-20-9-8=45
Cedar Creek 11-7-5-21=44
