Bearcats snap losing streak with 54-48 win
CARMICHAELS — It’s difficult to call a game in early January a must-win.
But both Bentworth and Carmichaels were riding three-game losing streaks and both desperately needed a win near the midway point of their Section 2-AA schedule.
On Tuesday night, the Bearcats got the better of the play in the final eight minutes and pulled out a critical 54-48 victory on the road against the Mikes.
“This was a big win for us,” Bentworth coach Bob Kennedy said. “We talked about how important this game was in practice on Monday. This is a tough place to play against a well-coached team like Carmichaels. We had to play a full 32 minutes and it was a battle.”
Bentworth (6-5, 2-3) was led by three players in double figures. Ray Logan scored eight of his team-high 11 points in the opening quarter, while Steven Harner and Sam Schoedel chipped in with 10 apiece. Levi Jordan tallied eight.
“We consistently put three guys in double figures almost every game,” Kennedy said. “It’s key to have that balance on offense. We are aggressive and we like to shoot the three. Carmichaels is tough with their full court man-to-man and they took away the sidelines from us. We adjusted to that and ran more stuff in the middle.”
Jacob Lowry collected 19 points off the bench for Carmichaels (5-6, 0-4), while Liam Shea finished with nine and Cody Brown compiled eight.
“It’s the same old story for us, we are just too inconsistent on offense,” Carmichaels coach Don Williams said. “When we were clicking our forwards were slashing to the basket and we were getting some points in the paint. When we struggle, we dribble too much and we are just out of position. It’s baffling at times and very frustrating for us on offense this season.”
The Bearcats tallied the first six points of the contest and built a 13-6 lead at the end of one.
In the second quarter, the visitors scored seven of the opening 11 points of the quarter, but the Mikes responded with a 12-2 run to knot things up at 22-22.
Lowry had eight of his game-high 19 points in the second quarter.
“Jacob shot the ball very well,” Williams said. “He has been coming on for us all year and he got some playing time tonight. I like what I saw from him and I think he is going to play a lot more for us. He takes the ball to the basket and he isn’t afraid of contact.”
Bentworth maintained its lead with four of the final seven points of the first half and carried a 26-25 advantage into halftime.
Carmichaels grabbed its first lead of the night with the opening bucket by Lowry in the third quarter, but Bentworth countered with a 15-6 run. Jordan and Jacob Davis had four points each for the Bearcats in the run.
The Mikes closed out the third period with seven unanswered points to cut the deficit to 41-40.
After the squads exchanged points to start the fourth quarter, the Bearcats stretched their lead to 51-46 after a pair of free throws by Harner, a trey from Schoedel and a lay-up by Harner.
Shea scored a basket for Carmichaels to make it 51-48, but Bentworth secured the section triumph by hitting 3-of-5 shots from the foul line to end the contest.
“We started to execute better on offense in the final quarter,” Kennedy said. “We slowed things down and we were not settling for long jumpers. We moved the ball around and got the ball inside. We knocked some free throws down and got some stops on defense.”
Both teams return to Section 2-AA action on Friday, as Carmichaels travels to Frazier and Bentworth welcomes in California.