In Tuesday’s lowscoring game in Claflin a pair of possessions became all the more important. The Oilers gave up a steal Jan. 14 in the waning seconds of the first half, and Sterling went on a late run to run away with a 36-22 win.

“We played three good quarters and we have to keep it a low-scoring game because we basically have no inside game,” said Central Plains coach Ted Schmidt.“If we can keep a team in the low 30s we can be in the ball game. But in the fourth quarter, we just lost our brains. I was telling them to burn a minute and we come down and take a shot in 28 seconds. Our whole idea is we have to have the ball in our hands so they don’t have it in theirs.”

In a tight game throughout, the Oilers got as close as 22-20 with two free throws from senior JJ Heredia two minutes into the fourth quarter. As the final score suggests, the Black Bears closed out the game on a 14-2 run. Senior Logan Weigel had a key putback with 4:10 to play for a 28-20 score, and senior Caden Bressler provided a final dagger with a trey at the 3:35 mark.

Heredia and Sterling junior Tyus Wilson traded threes to open the game. Heredia added another trey in the frame and the Oilers led 8-7 after one quarter.

Ethan Hurley ended an early shooting drought with a 3-pointer to open the third quarter, and freshman Michael Laymon came off the bench to hit another three. The Oilers clung to a 16-15 lead late in the first half before turning it over in the final seconds. Wilson, the state’s top high jumper, threw down a dunk as the horn sounded. Sterling turned the tide with a 17-16 advantage.

“That was not smart of us,” Schmid said. “We didn’t run our stall right. He goes down and tommyhawks it and they go up one. They should have went into halftime down one. I’ve been coaching for 47 years. Every end of a quarter or half, it doesn’t matter, sets the tempo. You let someone down a three or tommyhawk a ball, you’ve set a tempo for them.”

Wilson opened the second half with a triple just eight seconds in, then added another quick basket. Those proved to be the only two field goals in the quarter. On the other end, two free throws from Jerred Bieberle provided the only two Oilers points in the quarter.

Central Plains grabbed 27 rebounds in the loss. By contrast, Wilson led all players with 14 points and 13 boards for Sterling. Brady Myers added eight points, and Weigel and Bressler each finished with seven points. Weigel also grabbed nine rebounds.