Frontier’s Jacob Bowersock (10) attacks the basket during Friday’s tournament game against Shadyside at Hank Morus Gym. (Photo by Jeff Campbell)

NEW MATAMORAS — Basketball can be an odd game.

The Frontier Cougars downed the Shadyside Tigers 68-54 Friday night at Hank Morus Gymnasium in an OHSAA Division VII district quarterfinal in a game that saw the Cougars lead by 13 in the opening quarter, fall behind by six in the third quarter and then rally down the stretch to secure the 14-point victory and advance in the opening round of the tourney.

Junior Jacob Bowersock tossed in a career-high 32 points as the top-seeded Frontier scored 26 points in the final quarter to improve to 16-7 an advance to the district semis Wednesday night against River.

“When you get that number one seed the pressure is on because everyone wants to beat you,” said Frontier head coach Roger Kirkpatrick. “A lot happened after that first quarter but we were able to bounce back late in the third quarter and then the fourth quarter we took over.”

The Cougars earned the top-seed in the tourney and came out strong as it appeared for a while that they may chase the underdog Tigers right out of the gym.

Frontier’s Avery Powell (1) boxes out on a free-throw attempt during Friday’s tournament game against Shadyside at Hank Morus Gym. (Photo by Jeff Campbell)

Frontier put together an early 9-0 run to take a 10-2 lead and after the Tigers got a bucket from Jayden Johnson, the Cougars scored seven more unanswered to open up a 17-4 lead.

Kason Hoff knocked down a three and a pair of freebies and Bowersock accounted for the other two.

The Tigers found a way to finish the quarter strong though as Michael Hendershot made a pair of free throws and Brandon O’Grady canned a triple to close the lead to eight at the end of the first quarter of play.

Cougar senior Hunter Taylor scored the first bucket of the second quarter but Bowersock picked up his second foul early in the quarter to give the Tigers a break that they would go on to take full advantage of.

“(Jacob) Bowersock getting into foul trouble really hurts us,” said Kirkpatrick. “That just seemed to change things up and they were able to get some momentum.”

With Bowersock on the bench the Tigers went on an 11-1 run to trim what once was a double-digit lead down to just two.

A two-pointer by Frontier senior Caleb Kirkpatrick got the Cougars back on the board and Hoff followed that up by making one-out -of two at the charity stripe and then connecting for three to shove the lead back out to eight.

The Tigers got the final points of the first half when big man Anthony Hill grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back up and in to cut the lead to 26-20 at the break.

Bowersock returned to the court to begin the second half and made his presence felt right away with a two-pointer but Shadyside put together their best run of the night to pull in front.

Six points by Johnson highlighted an 11-0 Shadyside run that was capped by a Hendershot two-pointer to take a 31-28 lead.

Bowersock’s two-pointer halted the run but the Tigers answered with a two-pointer by Hill and a triple by Hendershot to increase their lead to six.

The Cougars called a timeout and Kirkpatrick turned things over to Assistant Coach Scott Murphy who laid it all on the line to the Cougar squad on the bench.

That little lecture paid immediate dividends as Frontier closed out the third period on a 12-2 run to stake claim to a 42-38 lead heading to the final eight minutes.

“We got a little tight and Coach Murphy really challenged them and they responded,” said Kirkpatrick. “It was a great team effort the rest of the way.”

A three-pointer by senior Avery Powell made it a one-possession game and an old-fashioned three-point play by Bowersock tied the score at 38-38.

Taylor put his team back in front by a point by making one-of-two at the foul line and then gave the Cougars a bit of cushion when he knocked down perhaps the biggest shot of his career as his three-pointer went in to open the lead back to 42-38.

“He’s (Taylor) played well all year and the most improved player we have and that was a big shot,” said Kirkpatrick of Taylor. “He’s the best leader we have and all he wants to do is win no matter what it takes.”

Bowersock picked up his fourth foul early on in the final quarter but that wouldn’t affect him at all as he scored seven points of an 8-1 Cougar run that pushed their lead back into double-digits.

From that point on it was pretty much a challenge for the Cougars to handle the Shadyside full-court press and take care of business at the charity stripe.

The Cougars passed both with flying colors as they made 22-of-29 free throws in the game including 11-of-14 in the final quarter and pulled away to the win.

Bowersock did all of his damage in three quarters as he missed the majority of the second with the two fouls.

The Frontier junior made nine-of-12 shots from the floor as well as 13-of-15 from the line on his way to a career best performance.

“We were up and then we let them get a little run and got behind,” said Bowersock, who also dished out four assists while grabbing five rebounds. “We all complement each other and never get down on each other and just kept fighting.”

Taylor added 13 points, Hoff 12 while Powell finished with nine.

Shadyside, whose season comes to close with a 6-17 record, was led in scoring by Hendershot and Johnson with 14 points apiece while Hill completed a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.

The Cougars will live to fight another day and will now set their sights on a team they are very familiar with in the neighboring River Pilots Wednesday at a site to be determined.

Frontier split two regular season games with the Pilots, including a 19-point win last week at home on their senior night.

“They are 20 minutes up the river and beat us once and we beat them,” said Kirkpatrick of the Pilots. “No secrets between us so we will just have to get back to work and be ready to play Wednesday and see what happens.”