Playing late into Friday evening at the weeks-old Dunlap Fine Arts Center on the campus of Covenant Christian Academy, brothers Jon and Josiah Lowe weren't exactly enjoying their best varsity basketball games.
But their CCA Falcons, despite blowing a 13-point second-half advantage against visiting Bible Baptist, still had plenty of life, trailing by just a point as the final seconds ticked off the brand-spanking-new scoreboard.
It was then that Josiah, the Falcons' junior floor leader, swiped the ball from the Bobcats' Meritt Raup, then dished to his older brother, Jon, streaking uncovered toward the basket. Jon's layup fell through with 5 seconds left, and Covenant Christian escaped with a 50-49 triumph.
“I just ran,” senior Jon Lowe said. “I looked at the clock and realized I had to run. I saw [Josiah] go for the ball, and I just started running. If he gets it, he gets it. I gotta make the layup. It rolled around a bit, but it dropped.”
CLICK HERE FOR POST-GAME VIDEO WITH JON AND JOSIAH LOWE
Remarkably, the Falcons (7-1, 4-1 in the CCAC West) led somewhat comfortably for most of the game despite major struggles from Jon Lowe (3-for-7 from the field, 1-for-8 from the free-throw line) and Josiah Lowe (4-for-18 from the field).
That's because the youngest of the four Lowe brothers, freshman Joseph, popped off the bench to drain five 3-pointers and finish with a team-high 15 points.
“That's what he likes to do, shoot 3's off the wing,” said Josiah, who assisted on all five Joseph triples. “He came up big.”
And junior forward Matt Van Loon did his usual damage with 14 points and eight rebounds.
“Josiah draws a lot of attention when he takes the ball to the hole, drawing a lot of help defense,” explained head coach Greg Lowe, the boys' father. “If it comes from the wing, let's kick out for a 3-pointer. If it comes from down low, let's dump it inside because we got some people down there who can finish.”
But Lowell Kratzer's Bobcats (11-5, 4-1), who entered on a six-game winning streak, weren't going down without a fight despite facing deficits of 37-24 and 39-26 late in the third quarter.
CLICK HERE FOR CCAC WEST STANDINGS
Forward Mitch Raup scored six of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, and five of his teammates got into the scoring mix in the final frame as Bible Baptist surged all the way back.
A Mitch Raup connection to Paul Hill resulted in a layup that put the Bobcats in front, 47-46, with 2:03 remaining.
Josiah Lowe (eight points, eight assists) followed with a jumper to put CCA back in front, but Meritt Raup (15 points) answered with a driving layup with 40 seconds left to again leave the Bobcats on top.
“In the beginning we were just ice cold, and we could not make a basket,” Kratzer said. “That's been unusual for this team. We've been pretty consistent shooting inside and outside, but the kids were resilient and kept coming back. I thought we were going to win it right up until the very end.”
The Falcons, though, had other plans, sending their loud fans home happy from a game that didn't end until nearly 10:15.
“I just wanted our guys to be aggressive and not settle in and let them run the clock out,” Greg Lowe said of the turnover and bucket in the game-winning sequence.
“I told Josiah, 'If you see a lane, you go for it.' Because we don't want to die with any bullets in our gun. You'd be sitting over here [on the bench] with five fouls [if they called a foul], but we'd also be losing. So let's go after the ball, make them handle it in high pressure and see if we can create a turnover.”
Meritt Raup (15 points) missed hurried, off-balance jumper on the Bobcats' final possession as the clock hit zeroes.
Covenant Christian won despite a dreadful 2-for-14 effort at the charity stripe, proving the Falcons aren't quite used to shooting in a gym that didn't fully exist a month earlier.
Richard Prensner grabbed a team-high nine rebounds for CCA, while Mitch Raup posted a double-double (14 points, 13 rebounds) for the Bobcats. Hill added 12 rebounds and four blocks.
Austin Gay contributed two huge 3-pointers in the second half to key Bible Baptist's comeback.
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