On Tuesday, Jan 13, the Bel Air High School Boys’ Basketball Team, coming off the recent upset of Patterson Mill, traveled to Edgewood to take on the Rams.

The game started off with Edgewood taking an early lead due to their athleticism and ability to drive in and score in the paint. The Bobcats struggled to keep up and fell behind in the first quarter.

Coming into the second quarter, Bel Air still trailed, but they found their footing and kept up with the Rams, whose beginning surge died along with their momentum. No matter how hard the Rams tried to pull away, Bel Air would stay with them, due to their superior shooting from outside. The Bobcats cut the lead to 9 before the half, trailing 31-40, in a very high scoring and exciting game.

Edgewood would not be out done and put down all the Bobcat momentum early in the second half, going up by double digits. But once again, the Rams momentum died after only a few minutes due to good defense played by Bel Air. The rest of the quarter continued to be a stalemate like most of the game with each team trading buckets on every possession.

It wasn’t till the 4^th quarter when things got interesting again. Sophomore Michael Yetter came in and put on a show, scoring 12 points and helping the Bobcats cut the deficit.

“We’re a great outside shooting team,” said Sophomore Starter Daniel Webber. “That’s how we play and we’re very good at it—its how we get back into games or how we put teams away.”

With only seconds left and Bel Air down by 3, Coach Nichols called a time out to go over the potential game tying shot. With only seconds left, Yetter, who had a huge second half, took the shot and sent the game into overtime, giving hope to all Bel Air fans and players.

The overtime was back and forth as both teams were desperate for a win and a very important county win. Heading into the final seconds of the exhilarating game, Edgewood went up by two, 69-67. Hoping for another miracle, Bel Air went for the win but missed the shot at the buzzer. The Bobcats hung their heads after playing a great game but coming up short. But maybe not…

As the teams shook hands after the game, the Edgewood coach had plenty to say to the referees, who had put more time on the clock, giving Bel Air more time to try to win, even though the extra time did not cause the Bobcats the win. Apparently, hearing enough from the coach, the referee gave him a technical foul and ejected him; although the game was over, this was still allowed. But if this is still part of the rules, why did Bel Air not get the two free throws that come with a technical foul?

Mr. Blackburn, Athletic Director for Bel Air, is currently investigating the end of the game. “We put in an appeal to have the end of the game reviewed because according to the rule book, we should have got the foul shots that accompany the technical foul. The appeal is still being processed.”