ORRVILLE — Keith’s John Pettway hit six free throws in the final 29 seconds to lift the No. 4 ranked Bears over No. 1 Sunshine 60-56 Thursday night.

The Bears trailed in the final minute, but Pettway was fouled and a Sunshine player was issued a technical foul. Pettway calmly stepped to the line and knocked down all four free throws, before putting the game away with two more seconds later.

“That is growing up before your eyes,” Keith head coach Tommy Tisdale said. “This is a kid that I have watched miss free throws in the midst of a game. I’ve seen him miss eight or nine free throws over the course of a game. But to make consecutive free throws with the game on the line, that speaks volumes for him and his character.”

The Bears (8-5) have made a habit of knocking off top ranked teams during Tisdale’s tenure in Orrville.

He said Thursday’s win was big because of the way it may affect the area 5 race, but also recognized how large a win over the state’s No.1  ranked team is.

“To beat the No. 1 team, it is a huge, huge compliment,” Tisdale said. “However, I told the guys at practice, this isn’t the first No. 1 team we’ve played and this isn’t the first No. 1 team we beat.”

The last time Sunshine played at Keith, the Tigers pulled a stunning upset in the first round of an area tournament that the Bears were hosting.

That was four years ago when Pettway was an eighth grade starter for the Bears.

A poster still hangs on the wall in the Keith locker room, so that players remember that loss — a 64-47 defeat that a senior laden Bears team took on the chin that day. Every time the Bears get a big win, Tisdale points to it to show just how quickly a season can tumble down.

“They beat us in the first round of the area tournament with those exact same players,” Tisdale said. “They may have graduated one kid off the bench since… I had a veteran laden team and they beat us.”

The Bears returned the favor Thursday and they did it with defense in a game that was played at a hectic pace between the two class 1A heavyweights.

Keith led 47-40 after a dunk by Jimmie Powell, but the Tigers weren’t going to go away that easily.

The Tigers scored 15 of the game’s next 21 points to take a lead on a layup by Herbert Jones with 33 seconds left.

The euphoria didn’t last long on the Sunshine sideline, as a personal foul and technical was apparently called on Eddie Fikes Jr., giving Keith the opportunity it needed to reclaim a lead it would not relinquish.

“If I said what I thought was the difference, I would get fined,” Sunshine head coach Walter Jones said.

The Bears were led by 24 points from Pettway, who was the only Bears’ player in double figures. Jaequan Simmons added nine.

Keonta Edwards led Sunshine in scoring with 14 points.

Keith’s next game will be against Dallas County in the county tournament Monday at Wallace Community College Selma.