The Hornets had one more chance, as Cooks raced down the court, but his 3-point attempt from just beyond the arch bounced off the rim and sealed the victory for Keith.

Hornets’ head coach Chase Lewis said he was impressed with his team’s performance—a team mostly made up of underclassmen.

“I was very impressed,” Lewis said. “They came out and worked hard. I have two seniors that came on late, but the majority of my team is 8th and 10th graders. We’re a young team, but I’m very impressed with the way we played. I’m very proud of them. I just wish we could have came out with the win.”

Tisdale said his team will need to work on its free throw shooting, and this game serves as a wakeup call for the Bears as they prepare to host the Class 1A Area 5 tournament next week.

“We shot 10 for 34 from the free throw line at home. You’re not supposed to win with that,” Tisdale said. “We’ll take the win. We’ll learn from it. To be pushed to the limit like that, we needed that. That’s something that hasn’t happened to us in Class 1A since we lost to Pickens County (last year in state semi-finals). I think that was a wakeup call for our guys.”

Murry led the Bears with 12 points on the night, while Cooks led the Hornets with 18 points.