The Bowie Jackrabbits won a close game down the stretch at Henrietta on Tuesday night.
The Jackrabbits won 62-55 in a game that was close from beginning to end.
Bowie was sitting at a 4-4 district record and had a three-game losing streak. Most importantly, the Jackrabbits had lost games to Iowa Park and Jacksboro, two teams they had beaten the first time around and who they had to hold off to earn the district’s final playoff spot.
The Bearcats were 0-8 in district and Bowie had beaten them at home in the first round of district by 10 points. Still, the Jackrabbits knew it could not have a letdown.
Henrietta was looking of the upset up 6-2 early and 14-10 after the first quarter. The Bearcats were giving Bowie a lot of defensive looks, from man-to-man, zone, full-court press, to diamond-and-one where they tried to deny the Jackrabbits top scorer Andrew Sandhoff.
Both teams were having great success crashing the offensive glass and getting second and third chances at the basket.
Bowie started the second quarter getting its first lead as Rayder Mann made back-to-back 3-pointers. Henrietta then went on a 9-0 run to go up 23-16, but the Jackrabbits came back to tie it up at 23-23 just two minutes later.
The Bearcats closed the first half with back-to-back 3-pointers to go up 29-25 at halftime.
Bowie coaches put 112 on the board during halftime and asked the team what it represented. After no one knew, they said it was the amount of minutes left in the team’s season if the Jackrabbits lost the game.
Initially the motivation tactic did not work as Henrietta came out and extended its lead to 35-27 within the first two minutes.
Bowie answered as it started to find opportunities to push the ball after defensive stops. It only took two minutes for the Jackrabbits to get the lead 36-35.
Bowie eventually extended its lead all the way to 45-38 before the Bearcats came back to cut the lead to one basket 45-42 heading into the fourth quarter.
Henrietta came out in a tough full-court press that seemed to initially give the Jackrabbits trouble.
The Bearcats were getting good shots around the baskets and drawing free throws while Bowie’s good looks were tougher to find.
Henrietta went on a 10-1 run in the first four minutes as it got the lead back and led 52-46.
After the Jackrabbits scored a basket, Sandhoff found enough room to launch back-to-back 3-pointers that gave Bowie back the lead 54-52 with 2:15 left.
The Bearcats quickly drew free throws and had a chance to tie the game up, but only made one to cut it to 54-53.
The Jackrabbits upped their lead thanks to defense as Mann stole the ball in the backcourt and scored on a layup. Quickly afterwards, Sandhoff poked the ball away and Tucker Jones scored in transition.
Bowie’s lead was up to 58-53. After getting a stop on defense and running the clock down, Mann then finished at the rim while getting fouled to ice the game with 39 seconds left.
The Bearcats only made two more free throws and Mann made one more free throw in the closing seconds to win secure the win 62-55.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the weekend edition of the Bowie News.