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Show Wildcats Down Braves To Claim Region Title By DAVE W1GHAM Clipper Sports WOODS CROSS -- Todd Dyson made the i biggest basket of his life last week with 40 j seconds left in the Wildcats' win over Bounti-f Bounti-f fill. It was at this point that Todd stole the ball i and raced the length of the court to make a lay up giving his Wildcats a comfortable 48-42 1 lead. As it turned out the Cats held on to claim a 51-46 victory and thus they also claimed the Region Four title. THE ENDING of this battle was as great as J, the billing given the contest but other than that i the game was not that well played. "I thought "i we played lousy in the first half and I told the kids we were lucky not to be down by ten or more" noted a jubliant Wayne Baker in the ' Cats locker room, "both teams were extreme-' extreme-' j ly tight and tentative after all it was a big game j' for both of us." Down the wire in this game both sides 1 seemed intent on keeping it close. The final two minutes went something like this. With Woods Cross up 43-42 Bountiful missed a shot and Race McCleery alertly hit Ross Valdez '. with along outlet pass which the senior reserve quickly converted into an easy layup. Now the ; ': Cats were up three and Matt Thornley was fouled but he missed both foul shots leaving the score at 45-42. No matter though as with just '" over two minutes to play the Cats threw the ball away and the Braves had more life. THE BRAVES though were called for a three second violation and the Cats had the ball back. This time Dyson was fouled but he could only hit on one charity shot, score was now 46-42. Bountiful missed their shot and Hous-keeper Hous-keeper was fouled with just over a minute to go, but he too missed the front end of a one and one. Back down the floor came the Braves but they missed again and this time Dyson was fouled. He went to the line and missed two tries but then he got back in good grace with everyone every-one with his steal and layup to make the score 48-42. Dave Burnett then hit a nice jumper for the Braves with 17 seconds left to bring the Braves to 48-44. However now the Braves were forced to foul and they sent Race McCleery to the line and he converted both shots and finally Dyson added one more for insurance as the time ran out. THE DIFFERENCE in the battle was the fact that Woods Cross hit on II of 14 field goal attempts in the second half w hile the Bountiful side couldn't find the range. In the scoring parade Todd Robinson and Greg Houskeeper each poured in 15 for the winning Cats with McCleery adding 9 and Dyson the biggest 6 of his career. Bountiful on the other hand got II from Matt Thornley, 10 from Dave Burnett and 9 from Gary Seljaas. THE WIN gave the Cats their first ever over Bountiful on their home floor and insured Woods Cross of the top seed from this league in the state tournament. This is the first time in three years that the Braves haven't had at least a share of the league title. |