LUCASVILLE - Derek Lewis saw an opening, so he took it.

To his teammate.

Jason Bester took a pass from Lewis and made a layup with one second to play as the Green Bobcats beat the East Tartans 55-54 Friday to win the Division IV sectional championship.

"Derek had the ball and everyone flew to him. Jason made a cut to the basket and Derek made a nice pass," Green coach Kevin Sheridan said.

"Derek didn't practice all week. He'd been out with the flu, so anything he gave us was a plus."

Lewis finished with 11 points and five assists. Brian Ramey led the Bobcats with 18 points and 7 rebounds while Adam Sparks added 11 points and 6 rebounds. John Dawson had 9 rebounds.

East (12-9) was led by Andrew Conley with a game-high 28 points including 3 treys. Brent Downing had 12 points.

"Playing a team a third time is hard and we did a poor job defending (Conley)," Sheridan said.

Downing had 5 points in the first quarter as East went up 11-9.

With Ramey scoring 6 points and Bester 4, Green led by 8 points in the second quarter, but East went on a 16-1 run as Conley scored 15 points and East took a 31-24 halftime lead.

The tide turned in the third quarter. Sparks got 7 points and Ramey 5 and the defense limited East to 6 points as Green took a 40-37 lead.

"We held them to 6 points in the third quarter and that was the difference in the game," Sheridan said.

Lewis, Sparks and Bester combined for 10 points in the fourth quarter as Green held onto a 53-2 lead, but Nathan Williams sank two foul shots with 13 seconds to play that put the Tartans ahead 54-53.

That set up the final play that the Bobcats executed to perfection.

Green (13-8) now plays Eastern Meigs at 11 a.m. Saturday at Ohio University in the district semifinals.

Green9151615=55

East1120617=54

GREEN (13-8):

C.J. Blevins 0 0 0-0 0, Jason Bester 3 0 2-2 8, Derek Lewis 1 2 3-7 11, John Bowen 0 0 0-0 0, Nathan Patten 0 0 0-0 0, Adam Sparks 4 1 0-0 11, Brian Ramey 4 3 1-2 18, Brad DeHart 0 00-0 0, John Dawson 3 0 1-2 7. Totals: 21-53

(6)

7-14

55. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 9-18=27 (Dawson 9, Ramey 7, Sparks 6). Steals: 10 (Sparks 4). Assists: 8 (Lewis 5). Turnovers: 12.

PORTSMOUTH EAST (12-9):

Jeff Swick 1 0 0-0 2, Nathan Williams 2 1 2-2 9, Brent Downing 3 1 3-4 12, Andrew Conley 9 3 1-4 28, Eric Runquist 0 0 0-0 0, Travis Riggs 1 0 1-2 3. Totals: 16

(5)

7-12

54. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.