Bears win 12th District 63-51; Cougars are runners-up

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Butler County’s Bears led from start to finish last Friday night in the Cougar Den to win the 12th District championship by a score of 63-51.

As the runners-up in the 12th District, the Cougars will face Muhlenberg County, champions of the 10th District, in the first round of the 3rd Region Tournament, Thursday night at 7:45 in the Sportscenter, in Owensboro.

The Cougars never led after the Bears scored the first four points of the game. Butler County led by six points, 12-6 after the first period and by seven, 21-14 at the half.

A 10-foot jumper by Chandler McCrady with 1:28 left in the third quarter brought the Cougars to within six points of the lead, 31-25, but the Bears got back-to-back three-pointers from Brody Hunt and Solomon Flener, and a Flener lay-up with 19 seconds left to grab a 14-point lead, 39-25 heading into the final period of play.

The Cougars were never closer than nine points in the fourth quarter as the Bears rolled to victory.

Parker Rice led the Bears with 20 points, while Hunt had 14 and Flener finished with 12.

Cougar senior Nolan Shartzer had just six points through the first three periods of play, but exploded for 18 in the fourth quarter to finish with a game-high 24 points. He also added eight rebounds, three steals and an assist.

Sophomore Chandler McCrady joined Shartzer in double figures with 12 points, including two three-pointers. Brayden Childress scored six points, Dillon Horn added four and River Blanton contributed three points and eight rebounds. Chase Johnson had two points to complete the Cougar scoring.

By Don Brown, Local Sports
Reach Don at donbrown@k105.com