By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

BLOOMFIELD - Sophomore Cody Neldon drove the lane and attempted a layup with under 10 seconds left on the clock and the ‘Cats down by one; Adam Grantham bear-hugged the Dexter guard under the basket, and Neldon’s shot missed the backboard completely and fell to the ground.

There was no whistle, no signal from the baseline referee.

“[The baseline official] had a better angle than I did; it definitely looked like one to me,” DHS head coach Rob Nichols said of the no-call. “They didn’t call it, so I guess it wasn’t a foul.”

Regardless of any controversy surrounding the finale of the contest, for the second time in nine days, the Dexter Bearcats lost a game that could have easily been won if they were able to simply make a free throw.

In the first semifinal contest of Wednesday night, the ‘Cats shot an abysmal 37% from the charity stripe in a 49-48 loss to the top-seeded Kennett Indians.

Despite the 'doom and gloom' surrounding the controversial finale of the would-be upset, the 'Cats actually performed well in the contest. Nichols noted that his team performed well in his key areas of concern, but silly mistakes early the second half, coupled with pathetic free throw shooting, would eventually be the Bearcats’ folly.

“I thought we did everything we had to do to win. We knew if we could guard them and not turn the basketball over then they would have trouble scoring,” Nichols said. “We knew [we had to] rebound it well, and they did.”

The ‘Cats were able to open a 6-2 lead early in the first quarter thanks to a blocked shot and three pointer from Tyler Miller; Brad Potts picked up a steal and several key boards in the opening frame, and Neldon completed a three point play to keep the ‘Cats tied with the Tribe at 14 after the first quarter.

Divante Taylor dropped in a layup to push the Indians ahead by six at the 6:30 mark. Miller came up with a steal and layup to cut Kennett’s lead to two at 5:40, and Jordan Fitts picked off the ensuing inbounds pass before dishing the ball to Neldon for a quick two to tie the game at 20. Threes from Miller and D.J. Dowdy late in the second were enough to propel Dexter to a 29-22 lead at halftime.

The Indians quickly took control of the game early in the third quarter and tied the contest at 29 at the 6:30 mark. The Bearcats went on a quick 7-0 run to bring the score to 37-30 before Kevante Mitchell picked up loose balls on two consecutive possessions and tied the game at 37 at the end of the third.

Jake Lee, who was 3-10 in the contest, connected on a free throw to pull the ‘Cats within one at the 5:00 mark of the fourth quarter; the senior post came up with a steal a minute later and handed the ball off to Miller for another three to take a 45-43 lead. Kennett quickly responded and got up 47-46 at the 1:45 mark, but Lee had an offensive board and putback on the next trip down the floor to turn the score back in the Bearcats’ favor.

The Indians dropped in a quick bucket, but Neldon connected on one of two free throws with 50 seconds left in the contest to put the ‘Cats down by one. Potts snagged a crucial defensive board and dumped the ball to Neldon before the controversial no-call under the basket; the ‘Cats were forced to quickly foul and give the Tribe a bonus chance from the charity stripe. Miller got the rebound on the second free throw and chunked the ball from half court as the buzzer sounded, but his shot bounced around in the framework of the goal as the buzzer sounded.

“We had a seven point lead in the third quarter, then three straight turnovers at half court that were basically unforced and led to layups for them, and that ate up our lead,” Nichols continued. “Turnovers are what got us. I thought the kids played great defense, and we executed every step we called out of a timeout. Everything we talked about during timeouts, they went out and executed.”

“We were up one when we turned it over, there were about 18 seconds left. We were midcourt, getting into our delay game,” Nichols said when asked why he didn’t call a timeout to set up a play late in the game. “The way Kennett was scrambling and running two guys across the court, I thought it would be better to not call a timeout because we might have gotten a layup and that would keep it from being a free-throw shooting contest - at that point we were seven for 19 from the line, and I’d rather get a layup than try to shoot free throws.” Miller led the ‘Cats with 17 points; Mitchell paced the Indians with 20.

The Indians will advance to the Championship Bracket Finals, where they will attempt to claim their third-straight tournament title. If successful, the Tribe will be the first team to win three straight BCT Titles since Paul Hale and Eric Sitze led the Bearcats to seven straight titles in 1998-2004.