Park Hill South had opportunities in the fourth quarter and then overtime to take command versus William Chrisman.
Both times, the Panthers came up short and after the second time, the Bears capitalized and picked up a 55-51 win in overtime in a Class 5 sectional game at Silverstein Eye Centers.
With 10 seconds left Park Hill South went to the free-throw line with a chance to seal a win.
The one-and-one free throw missed and then William Chrisman missed a last-second shot to force overtime
The Bears scored the first six points in overtime but over the final 50 seconds the Panthers (18-8) rallied. Free throws by Dawson Owen and Lamel Robinson made it 52-51, but a miss with 12.7 seconds left could’ve tied the game.
Robinson got a steal with 9.8 seconds left, but Zachariah Rowe got a steal for Chrisman with 6.2 seconds that all but ended the game. The Bears (20-8) went 3-for-4 from the line to cap the scoring.
“Every run we made, they answered it to their credit,” Park Hill South coach Dan Parra said. “They played well. They frustrated us on offense and their offense got it done.”
The Bears went up 10-2 early behind a 7-0 run by Kelvyn Mason, but baskets by Owen, Anthony Bell, Desi Williams and Robinson cut the deficit to 15-11 after the first frame.
Twice in the second quarter Park Hill South got within a basket but each time the Bears scored on the following possession.
At halftime the Panthers trailed 28-26 after a buzzer beater by Owen with 0.5 seconds left.
A basket by Bell with 6:21 to go in the third, on an assist from Robinson, forged a tie at 28 but the lead lasted a little more than minute. Chrisman went on an 11-2 run — sparked by Mason — to take a nine-point lead.
Chrisman led 43-37 after three quarters after a tip-in at the buzzer by Anthony Hilton.
The Bears went up by seven early in the fourth before a 7-0 run by Park Hill South tied the game with four minutes to go. A three-point by by Williams tied it at 46 but neither team scored again.
“I never felt like we got over the hump, we never got comfortable,” Parra said. “They played zone and they were good at it. They were good enough to frustrate us in the dribble-drive and they limited us playing Anthony and Dylan (Broughman) together and that hurt us. It took us out of what we wanted to do. They both played well against Park Hill and they were running four guards and sometimes five guards … it frustrated us.”
Robinson scored 22 for Park Hill South, while Williams scored 11 and Owen had 10 in their final games.
“Lamel’s scoring record is up to 2,000 points and that may never be broken or not for a long time,” Parra said. “Desi has the assists record, a four-year starter and scored 1,000 points himself. When they (the seniors) look back on it they won districts two of the four years, won conference two of the four years. Hopefully they will look back and be proud of what they accomplished at South.”
Mason scored a game-high 23 for the Bears.
“Lamel is great and Lamel will do great things at Omaha, but Kelvyn took it as a challenge,” Chrisman coach Jake Kates said.
The season ended the next game for Chrisman, which fell to Lee’s Summit North in the quarterfinals in overtime.