Hosting their last home game before the post-season, the Ellsworth Bearcats defeated the Sacred Heart Knights 62-48 on Feb. 21.

The Cats were full of excitement and ready to play from the tipoff. As the they got the first possession, the Knights came out in a man-to-man defense. Getting back on defense, the Cats went into a 2-3 zone defense and stayed that way the majority of the game. The first quarter ended with a score of 10-9 with the Cats in the lead.

Being up by only 1 point, the Cats knew they had to keep moving the ball, allowing for more open shots, and that is exactly what they did as they got a bigger lead. Up by 7, the Cats finished the second half with a score of 23-16.

Nothing changed defensively, but offensively, the Cats couldn’t miss. Putting up an astounding 20 points in the third quarter, the Cats strengthened their lead even more.

The Knights tried to fight back in the fourth quarter, but it just wasn’t enough to overtake Ellsworth. Shutting the Knights out of the game all together, the team scored another 19 points to finish off the fourth quarter. The Cats got the win over Sacred Heart, 62-48.

Having a very good shooting night, Will Cravens led the team with 27 on the board. Also contributing were Riley Stone with 13, Layton Leiker with 10, Lane Rolfs with 3, Cade Gwinner with 3 and Isaac Lindsley with 2.

“We played well on defense, which got us some easy points, and (we) just played well as a team overall,” Lindsley said. “Going into sub-state, we’re all excited as we feel like we have improved a lot over the season and believe we can win several games.”

“I thought the boys executed the game plan well defensively and showed good chemistry offensively,” Head Coach Brett Rolfs said. “Hopefully we can continue to improve in those things as we head into the postseason.”

The boys played Russell High School at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Russell. Results were not available at presstime.