In a ninth-grade game decided by one point, the Central Junior High Mustangs had every chance to win. Instead South’s Chebon Dawes made sure they didn’t, hitting the game-winning basket with 23 seconds left to secure a 51-50 victory Jan. 23 at Central Junior High School.

“The game depended on who executed best on both offense and defense,” Dawes said.

But it was the Mustangs, who clung to a one-point lead with 90 seconds left.

However, costly turnovers and missed free throws doomed Central down the stretch.

“They’re young kids and will make some mistakes, but it’s hard to win when you go 2-of-14 from the line,” Central coach Gary Hall said.

Both teams opened the game with a full-court press creating havoc for each squad as it tried to bring the ball up the floor.

South got on the board first when forward Jayce Eubanks grabbed an offensive rebound and added the putback.

Central saw a lot of similar play as the Cougars out-muscled the Mustangs on the glass. South’s big men and leading scorers, Eubanks and Dawes, got a lot of second and third looks at the basket.

The Mustangs’ first points came from guard Chris Wildgen, who sank what-would be Central’s only two makes from the charity stripe on the night. During a fast-paced first quarter South executed the press slightly better than Central, forcing several turnovers and helping them take a 13-8 lead into the next period.

That lead quickly evaporated during a defensive breakdown by the Cougars early in the second. Six straight points from Central guard Chuck Hunter sparked a run that saw the Mustangs tie the game, then take the lead. Dawes broke the spurt long enough to make one free throw but the Mustangs rattled off another six-straight points during a 12-1 run. But the Cougars seemed unfazed when they finished the half with three buckets of their own and maintained a four-point lead at the break.

South Cneter Chebon Dawes looks to score past two Central defenders during the first half. Ninth-grade South defeated Central 51-50 Jan. 23 at Central Junior High with a last-second shot from Dawes.

South opened the second half in a 2-3 zone in an effort to keep the Central guards from penetrating and continuing to get the easy layups they saw in the previous two quarters.

“Both coaches made good adjustments,” South coachScott Petry said. “Hall is excellent and constantly readjusted his gameplan to counteract what we did.”

A three ball from Wildgen forced the Cougars to rethink their zone defense, and the Mustangs took advantage of the lapse in concentration to go on another run. Hunter added two more of his game-high 18 points, and Sean Brown contributed four of his 12, forcing a South timeout halfway through the third period and giving Central its largest lead at 31-28.

The lead was quickly extended with another three from Wildgen. Dawes and Eubanks kept their team in the game with points down low as the Mustangs really had no one to match their size in the paint.

Central took a two-point lead into what proved to be a helter-skelter final quarter of action. With deafening crowd noise from a large number of South and Central supporters making it hard for the players to hear, the game bounced back and forth to a 46-all tie with 3:22 left.

“It was really loud in here, especially at first,” Dawes said. “But you get used to it and it fires you up.”

Either it fired him up, or it cooled the ice in his veins because it was Dawes who calmly hit a short jump-hook near the end just like it was any day at practice. In reality, he had turned the ball over on the previous possession and turned around to hit he game-winning bucket with just 23 seconds left. Dawes had a team-high 15 points and grabbed five rebounds. Eubanks added 14 points and seven boards.

“Any victory against a city team is huge because those wins are tough to come by and Central is by far the toughest gym to play in,” Petry said.