With two weeks left in the regular season, there’s still a lot to be decided in regard to this winter’s Central Activities Conference basketball races.
Following action Friday, Feb. 6, the boys’ race saw one team pretty much fall by the wayside while over on the girls’ side, things are even more jumbled than ever.
In play heard on KMMO Radio, New Franklin’s boys withstood a missed, last-second, three-point try by visiting Cairo to defeat the Bearcats, 49-47 wrapping up the evening. Prior to that, it was the Cairo girls continuing their long winning streak as they pulled away down the stretch to stop the New Franklin’s girls, 51-40.
It was a typical CAC doubleheader, featuring some very intense action from beginning to end. The Bulldog boys led most of the first half but never by very much as they were in front, 12-6 after one quarter and then 20-19 at intermission. The final half saw the two sides trade the lead more than once with Cairo on top, 47-46 and less than a minute left on the clock. At that point it was Caden Schlotzhauer’s turn to shine after earlier in that fourth quarter, Schlotzhauer had scored the 1,000th point of his career. First the senior standout tossed in the go-ahead bucket, giving the Bulldogs a 48-47 advantage. Then after the Bearcats missed a shot as time wound down, Schlotzhauer was fouled with 10 seconds left, but he could only hit one of two charity tosses, making it 49-47. Upon getting the ball into the forecourt, Cairo’s Clayton Messer threw up a 30-foot prayer at the basket, hitting the backboard and then the rim as it spun away, enabling the Bulldogs to hang on for a two-point victory.
The win leaves New Franklin still in the CAC boys’ race at 5-1 in the league standings and 15-7 overall as they remain one game behind front-running Glasgow. Caden Schlotzhauer paced the Bulldogs with a 23-point effort on Friday, scoring 15 of his in the last half. Dropping to 4-2 in the league and 11-9 on the year, Cairo falls into a third-place tie with Slater in the standings. Seeing an eight-game winning streak end, the Bearcats were led by 15 points from Kason Ryan with Wright Sander tacking on 13 of his own.
On the girls’ side of the ledger, there’s now a three-way tie for first place as New Franklin, Cairo and Glasgow are all 5-1 in the CAC with Community R-VI right behind them in the standings at 5-2. That came about thanks to the win by Cairo’s girls at New Franklin on Friday. The Bearcats were in front, 10-7 after one period and then 21-18 at the break. New Franklin quickly opened the second half with a 13-5 run to claim a 31-26 advantage during the third quarter. But just as abruptly, Cairo answered back by scoring 25 of the contest’s last 34 points to win going away, 51-40.
Earning their 12th victory in a row, the Bearcats improved to 5-1 in the league and 16-5 on the year as Chloe Brumley had four threes and 19 points to pace them. New Franklin’s girls dropped to 5-1 in the CAC and 16-6 overall with Skylar Shaw providing 12 points on their behalf.