Southerners win on late free throw

4A EAST REGION BOYS

SOUTHSIDE BATESVILLE 47, BAPTIST PREP 46

LONOKE -- Southside Batesville's Grant Patterson made one of two free throws with 1.5 seconds left to give the Southerners a 47-46 victory over Baptist Prep in the Class 4A East Region championship Saturday at the Gina Cox Center.

Southside Batesville (28-5) suffered a 56-49 loss to Baptist Prep (27-6) in last week's 4A-2 Conference tournament at Riverview.

"We got a little revenge this week," Southside Batesville Coach Brad McGhee said. "We played really well this week and just hope we can keep it going."

The loss ended an eight-game winning streak for Baptist Prep.

Southside Batesville's Alex Brogdon opened the fourth quarter with a field goal and Tom Miholjcic hit another to give the Southerners a 39-32 lead.

With 1:50 remaining, Isaac McBride made two free throws and followed with a field goal to give Baptist Prep a 44-43 lead. Matthew Holifield gave the lead back to Southside Batesville with a three-point play only to have McBride hit two more free throws for a 46-46 tie with 47.6 left.

Southside Batesville tried to work for the final shot, but turned the ball over on a five-second call with 9.8 seconds left. McBride missed a three-point attempt that Patterson rebounded and was fouled with 1.5 seconds left. He made the first free throw to set the final margin before missing the second.

McBride finished with a game-high 27 points. Miholjcic led Southside Batesville with 12, while Grant Patterson and Will Sitkowski each added 11.

Sports on 02/25/2018

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