HAMILTON — Badin High School junior guard Carson Lowe sprinted down the Mulcahey Gym court with the intent of scoring in the game’s final minute.
Cooper Ollis delivered a perfect pass that covered three-fourths of the floor.
“We work on it every day,” Lowe said. “He hit me with a dime on the breakaway. That made it a lot easier on my part.”
Lowe scored the last two of his game-high 13 points on a layup down the stretch, and the Rams held off the Fenwick Falcons for a 48-45 victory in front of a packed house Friday night.
Badin (9-3, 4-1 Greater Catholic League Coed) has won the last four meetings against Fenwick (2-10, 1-5) — including a lopsided 63-44 contest at Fenwick earlier this season.
“We knew they were going to play super, super hard,” Rams coach CJ Fleming said of the Falcons. “But they weren’t as wild as they were back on (Dec. 6) when we got so many easy buckets because they were just pressing and trapping all over the place and we executed.
“They were much better tonight.”
Fenwick looked good at the start. The Falcons led nearly the entire first quarter and took a 12-6 advantage into the second frame.
But Badin went on a 7-0 run that was capped by a Declan Brown 3-pointer — giving the hosts a 13-12 lead with about five minutes left in the second. The Rams led 19-18 at halftime.
Badin outscored Fenwick 16-12 in the third quarter and owned a 42-32 lead minutes into the fourth.
That’s when the Falcons started chipping away at the deficit. Fenwick’s Will Lenz scored four of his team-high nine points in the fourth quarter.
Ollis connected on a pair of free throws to put Badin up 48-45 with 11.5 seconds remaining, and Lenz’s contested 3-point shot fell short as time expired.
“Tonight was our best effort in terms of defense,” Falcons coach Andy McCarthy said. “We’re last in the GCL in defense. It’s something that’s been a focal point here for a couple weeks.
“I thought we took a huge step tonight against a really good, well-coached basketball team. They’re athletic, they have scorers all over the place. We had some mismatches that we did a good job of helping each other out and making it a four-quarter game. We know that every GCL game that we play is going to be a four-quarter basketball game.”
The junior varsity contest served as a precursor to how the varsity rendition was going to play out. Gritty.
Badin defeated Fenwick 55-47 in the JV game, which ended prematurely following a handful of Falcon technical fouls and at least one ejection.
“If you were here for the end of the JV game, this is an emotional, emotional game that we stuck through thick and thin,” McCarthy said. “Just got a few buckets short there. Second quarter was a little light. We went about four minutes without a bucket there. But cut it all the way down to a possession with the ball.
“So, can’t ask for that much more against a great team like Badin. We’re proud of the kids. I know it doesn’t feel good — especially when you’ve lost some games that we have so far this season. But if we play the way we played tonight, we’re in good shape going forward.”
Ollis finished with eight points for Badin, which shot a near-perfect 14 of 15 (93%) from the free throw line. Chandler Taylor and Brown had seven apiece. The Rams shot 15 of 35 (42%) from the floor.
“Didn’t play great, but pushed the lead to 10 late, early fourth,” Fleming said. “Got later and kind of fell apart a little bit, but a lot of that had to do with Fenwick. Just got off to a slow start and finally clawed our way back. Didn’t love the first half when we were still up two.
“We come out, we run a little bit better offense, still can’t make a shot. But guys kept finding ways. At this point in the season, we really want to be better and really want to play better. But I give some credit to Fenwick — because they came out ready to go, played incredibly hard and punched us in the mouth early.”
Junior Will Duba and sophomore Hudson Kreke each scored seven points for the Falcons, who fired 16 of 37 (43%) on the night.
Badin has a quick turnaround and hosts Reading at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. Fenwick travels to La Salle on Tuesday night in a game that was postponed earlier in the season.
