Clear Creek Middle School ended its basketball season last week.
The CCMS eighth-grade Bobcats capped their campaign in Lumpkin County with a Mountain League runner-up finish. The Cats met the Fannin County Rebels for the title and fell, 60-37.
The No. 4 seeded Bobcats advanced to the championship game by defeating the top-seeded White County Warriors in round one, 59-55.
The seventh-grade Bobcats were also seeded No. 4 and faced the No. 1 seed Union County Panthers to begin the tournament and lost, 62-57.
Teams in the top four of the regular-season standings qualified for the Mountain League Tournament, and Clear Creek and Fannin were the only schools to have both of its teams in the postseason.
CCMS eighth graders had a tough time getting shots to fall in the championship. The Bobcats made just five shots from the field in the opening half while the Rebels got hot from outside and made four three pointers.
Boston Teague tallied 11 of his team-high 17 points in the first half as CCMS fell behind, 27-17.
Clear Creek’s Keegen Bryant found success in the third by attacking the lane and drawing fouls. Teague and Douglas Callihan were there for points as well, but Fannin was able to extend its lead to 44-28.
Eight Rebels scored points in the fourth where CCMS relied on the free-throw line for the bulk of its offensive production. FCMS pushed its lead to 23 by game’s end for the title.
Callihan finished with seven points, Bryant totaled six, Connor Nelson posted four, Cameron Quinn had two and Sam Jones scored a point.
The semifinal versus White County was played closely throughout. Just four Bobcats scored, and included Bryant leading the way with 23 points, followed by Nelson’s 16, Callihan’s nine and Jaden Sevech’s six.
CCMS held an 11-10 edge after the first. Bryant’s 12-point second quarter helped propel Clear Creek to a 29-25 halftime lead. Bryant added six more points in the third, and Nelson went to work for eight and Callihan added a three pointer.
The fourth started with the score even at 44-all. Nelson scored eight more Bobcat points in the quarter, and CCMS escaped with the win.
For the seventh graders, Bobcats Douglas Callihan (16 points), Andrew Chastain (14), Peyton Chancey (12) and A.J. Callihan (10) provided a strong scoring nucleus.
CCMS trailed 13-10 after a quarter before the Bobcats got hot from outside in the second to pull ahead, 30-24.
UCMS got its offense rolling in the second half, which started with 22 points in the third quarter. CCMS found itself down 46-42 with a quarter to play.
Union continued to hold off the Cats in the fourth to secure its five-point win. Jase McCollum added three points for CCMS and Preston McVey scored two.
The seventh-grade Bobcats posted a 6-7 overall record on the season, and the eighth graders were 8-6.
Requests for the Clear Creek Lady Cats’ tournament results and seasonal information were not answered by Tuesday afternoon’s press deadline.