Montague's Chayce Lohman drives by Dustin Shannals of Mason Co. Central.

The Spartans looked like they were still on the bus early in the contest with Montague, and its high flying forward Brandon Moore, opening up a big lead. Yet, the visitors who were down by 21 in the second quarter, pulled within four with less than a minute left in the game.

“We’ve got to play better than that in the tournament,” said Montague Coach Dave Osborne who is looking toward the Class C districts at Ravenna starting March 5.

“In the first half we played well, but ran out of gas.”

Osborne said the Wildcats were playing with two starters who were under the weather - their top outside shooter in Chase Casebolt and point guard Branton Stine. Casebolt was coming back from the flu and Stine was sore from a car crash on Tuesday.

The Wildcats also had three of their post players get in foul trouble with Alex Martin and James Boerema fouling out and Jacob Marsh finishing with four.

But, it was 6-6 Boerema, who Osborne said gave Montague valuable minutes off the bench. The junior scored 7 points, including his first jam.

“We have been working with him on his drop step,” Osborne said. And, he used it to position himself for the dunk.

It was Moore who scored nine of his team-high 19 points in the opening quarter to fuel the Wildcats to a 13-4 lead as MCC had trouble finding the hoop.

It only got worse in the second quarter as Montague had a 15-2 run to go up 28-6.

But, that’s when the Wildcats seemed to lose their legs, and the Spartans took advantage by putting fullcourt trapping pressure on the Wildcats and began a comeback.

Montague had trouble moving on offense against MCC in the final four minutes, while the Spartans scored the final six points in the half on a free throw and triple by Kody Ambrose, a pair of free throws by Sean Kelley.

In the third quarter, Kelley, a 6-5 sophomore, worked the inside for layups and turnaround jumps off the block in scoring 11 of his team’s 16 points.

But, Montague still held a comfortable 14-point lead with less than four minutes left when Moore drained a three to put his team up 48-34.

That’s when the Spartans made their move.

The visitors went on a 10-0 run, Austen Cox hit a layup off a backcourt steal to get his team started, then Kelley made a pair of shots from the line to get within 10, 48-38.

Montague then missed the front end of a bonus at the line, and the Spartans took advantage by bringing the ball down and scoring on a Kelley layup.

With 1:10 left, Montague threw the ball away against the press, and Ambrose got fouled. Ambrose made the first shot and the Spartans kept the ball alive from a missed second shot, and it ended up on top in the hands of Payton Tyndall who nailed a three to bring MCC within four, 48-44 with 48 seconds to go.

Montague, which only made 5-15 shots from the line in the fourth quarter, manages to split a pair on four times to the line to go up 52-44 with 22 seconds left. Kelley went inside for a layup to pulled the Spartans within six, 52-46, but it was too late.

Casebolt did lead the Wildcats with 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists. Moore had 4 steals.

Mason CC 46: Kody Ambrose 3 4-6 12, Payton Tyndall 3 0-0 7, Austen Cox 1 0-1 2, Dustin Schannals 1 2-2 4, Sean Kelley 8 2-2 19. Totals 17 8-11 46.

Montague 53: Spencer Morse 1 0-0 2, Chayce Lohman 4 1-3 10, Brandon Moore 7 2-6 19, Brandon Stine 0 1-3 1, Alex Martin 1 0-0 2, Jacob Marsh 0 1-4 1, Chase Casebolt 4 2-4 11, James Boerema 3 1-1 7. Totals 20 8-21 53.

Three-point field goals: Ambrose 2, Tyndall, Kelley, Lohman, Moore 3, Casebolt. Total fouls: Mason CC 18, Montague 20. Fouled out: Cox, Martin, Boerema. Technical fouls: Cox.

MCC 4 8 16 18-46