It was a Valentine’s Day face-off filled with passion. In the end Brookland-Cayce came out with a 52-50 win over Airport, in the Region 5 -4A rivalry game.

The Bearcats’ Zach McCoy, who went on a fourth-quarter scoring tear had 17. His teammate Chamar Martin also had 17. Christian Ferguson hit three 3-pointers for BC (13-13 and 3-7) and finished with 9. Airport’s Jeremiah Harris had 18 and Nanders Lawrence scored 15.  The Eagles’ Troy McCants recorded six blocked shots.

The win secures a playoff spot for the Bearcats. Airport  won an at-large spot and will go to the playoffs, too.

To start the high-intensity game in a packed house at BC, the Eagles jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the first quarter. But an 18-2 run by the Bearcats resulted in a 22-11 lead in the second quarter. Then a three-minute scoring drought, and a 9- 2 run by Airport cut Brookland-Cayce’s lead to 24-19 at halftime. 

The Bearcats remained cold to start the second half, and Airport took the lead back 25-24 early in the third quarter. The Eagles stretched the advantage to as many as eight point into the fourth quarter, But McCoy went on a 10-point individual scoring tear and BC tied the game at the 2:51 mark in the fourth quarter. Airport was able to tie the game at 46 and 48, but BC scored the next four points, before the Eagles hit a shot at the buzzer.

Scoring
BC: Zach McCoy 17, Christian Ferguson 9, Chamar Martin 17, Aubrey Richardson 5, London Tillman 2, Skylar King 2. 
Airport: Nanders Lawrence 15, Jeremiah Harris 18, Markco Gilmore 2, Xavier Ford-Belton 4, Troy McCants 6, Steve Gomez 5.