For the first time in several years, both Copper Basin basketball teams have qualified for the upcoming region basketball tournament. The Cougars finished fourth and the Lady Cougars third. The girls will play at Whitwell Friday while the boys’ opponent has yet to be determined.

Sixth seeded Copper Basin opened district tournament play with a 51-50 upset of third seeded Tennessee Temple Friday evening. Those Cougar fans who braved the two plus hour trip from the Copper Basin to Chattanooga via Highway 68 and Sweetwater were treated to a nip and tuck affair.

Basin opened with a 3-pointer by Brett Trantham and built as much as an eight-point lead in the first half. Temple kept closing the gap, but the Cougars refused to surrender. The score was tied five times and there were nine lead changes. Temple had its only second half lead at 34-33 with 2:05 left in the third period.

Josh Boring paced the Cougars scoring 20 points and pulling down nine rebounds. Jared Potter and Trantham had seven assists between them, and Trantham nailed four three-point baskets.

Defensively, Basin stayed in a 2-3 zone for most of the game and managed to get into the passing lanes forcing many turnovers. The offense worked the ball around the perimeter always looking to get it inside to Boring.

Everyone contributed. Jared Potter put Basin up by four late in the second quarter with a tip in basket. Matt Ray gave Basin its largest lead at 28-20 with a steal and lay up. Boring scored 14 of his points in the second half including seven down the stretch. Colby Panter kept the lead at three 49-46.

The issue wasn’t settled, however, until Temple missed a shot with two seconds left. The win set Basin up for a semi-final match Saturday against Grace Academy and also qualified them for next week’s region tournament.

The magic wasn’t there against Grace in the semi-finals as Basin lost 61-41. The Golden Eagles hit 10 three-point baskets and had a pair of 8-0 runs in the first half to build a 16-point lead.

Basin was 19 of 29 from the free throw line in a foul plagued contest that saw 47 shot attempts from the charity stripe. Colby Panter was eight of 11 from the line. Boring again led the Cougars with 14 points, while Grace had three players in double figures. The Cougars were unable to close the gap in the second half as their three-point shots would not fall.

Grace seemed content to fire from outside and dominate the boards. The Cougars would play Boyd Buchanan in the consolation game Monday, while host CSAS would take on Grace for the championship Tuesday.

Monday evening saw the Cougars drop a 44-30 decision to the Buccaneers of Boyd Buchanan. The Bucs pressure defense limited Basin’s shots and forced many turnovers. When shots were taken many fell off the rim.

Trantham paced the Cougars with 16 points. Boring pulled down 11 rebounds. Basin ran out to a 5-0 lead on a Trantham 3-pointer and a Matt Ray tip in, but Boyd Buchanan went on a 12-0 run and built the lead to 10 at the half. Bain closed the deficit to seven early in the second half but could get no closer. The Buccaneers used their overall height advantage to gain an eight basket margin from the field.

BASIN(51): Boring 0-8-4-20, Trantham 4-1-0-14, Panter 0-4-3-11, Potter 0-1-0-2, Ray 0-1-0-2, Harris 0-1-0-2, Bell

TEMPLE(50): Peterson 14, Robinson 7, Ragsdale 6, Sampson 15, Scott 8

BASIN(41): Boring 0-5-4-14, Panter 0-0-8-8, Trantham 0-2-2-6, Ray 0-3-0-6, Bell 0-1-3-5, Potter 0-0-2-2, Harris, Dilbeck, Boggs, Spargo

GRACE(61):Church 11, Schley 2, Wilson 16, Harmon 15, Nelson 4, Ruabusch 5, McMasters 2, Carter 3, Beirne 3

BASIN(30): Trantham 2-2-6-16, Ray 1-2-1-8, Panter 1-0-0-3, Dilbeck 0-0-2-2, Potter 0-0-1-1, Harris, Bell, Boring.

BUCS(44): Lockert 12, Allen 9, Bowen 8, Shull 5, Shull 5, McCallo 5

Copper Basin’s Lady Cougars did many things wrong but still came within a point of defeating Silverdale’s Lady Seahawks losing 61-60 in the semi-final round. Fouls did them in both on the committing end and on the inability to make their own foul shots.

The Seahawks shot a whopping 31 foul shots making 19 of them, while Basin managed only five of 18. Silverdale hit its first seven free throws while going on a 13-0 run in the first quarter. They led by eight after one forcing the Lady Cougars to play catch up the rest of the way.

They trailed by five at the half, but Silverdale went on a 9-0 run early in the third quarter to lead by 13 at 46-33. Mallory Payne, who had been on the bench in foul trouble, came back to ignite the Basin comeback. She scored eight of her 16 points in the third quarter as Basin closed the gap to four at 47-43 outscoring Silverdale 10-1 at the end of the third period.

Basin came continued its comeback scoring the first six points of the final period and taking a 49-47 lead on a Haley Buchanan basket. She scored on a rebound basket to keep the game tied at 57 with 36 seconds left. Brianna Hyatt nailed a 3-pointer with less than five seconds remaining to bring Basin within a point, but Silverdale ran out the clock.

The loss dropped Basin to the consolation round Monday.

Fouls again plagued the Lady Cougars in the consolation round 60-52 win over Boyd Buchanan. This time there were 63 foul shots taken with Basin hitting 11 of 34 and the Lady Bucs managing 17 of  29. Basin was 8 of 19 in the fourth quarter.

Hyatt led all scorers with 29 points including six 3-pointers. Emily Stevens was also in double figures with 14. Usually high scoring Payne spent most of the game in foul trouble. Mariah Trammell came in for Payne and pulled down 10 rebounds.

The Lady Cougars led by three at the end of the first quarter and eight at the half. The Lady Bucs fast break and pressure defense helped them close within two at 30-28 early in the third quarter. Hyatt and Haley Buchanan combined to push the lead back out to 10 by the end of the quarter and the squad hit enough free throws to keep the Lady Bucs at bay.

BASIN(60): Hyatt 2-5-3-19, Payne 0-8-0-16, Buchanan 0-4-2-10, Stevens 0-4-0-8, Loudermilk 1-1-0-5, Trammell 0-1-0-2, Trantham, Hedden

SILVERDALE (61): Massengil 26, Mossburg 6, Alosi 11, Dischroon 5, Walliser 6, Woods,4, Bautista 2

BASIN(60): Hyatt 6-3-5-29, Stevens 0-6-2-14, Buchanan 1-2-0-7, Trantham 0-1-3-5, Hedden 0-1-0-2, Montgomery 0-1-0-2, Payne 0-0-1-1

LADY BUCS(52): Neal 18, Connell 10, Pope 9, Eppinger 7, Hixon 6, Hughes 2