Cullman's Kadence Hanback makes a play.

Cullman’s varsity boys fought tooth and nail to the bitter end but fell to Hartselle 52-50 on Friday night. 

The Class 6A No. 9 Bearcats (13-8) played catch-up to the Tigers (11-11) most of the game and entered the fourth quarter trailing 36-32 in the Area 14 opener for both teams. 

The drama, though, reached its peak with less than a minute left to go. 

A 3-point play by Evan Wilson brought Cullman to within two points (49-47) with 32.1 seconds remaining before Hartselle extended its cushion back to four with a pair of free throws at the 18-second mark. 

Jake Dorough then sank a contested 3-pointer with 7.8 seconds on the clock to make it 51-50 and coach Stu Stuedeman’s group sent the Tigers back to the free-throw line shortly afterward. 

The home squad made the first and missed the second but hauled down a crucial offensive rebound that resulted in two more free throws with 2.4 seconds remaining. Hartselle missed both and the ball bounded off the rim to Kase Nixon, whose desperation heave at the buzzer scared the opposite goal but didn’t fall. 

Wilson scored a game-high 15 points for Cullman. Sam Duskin added 10.

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Varsity Girls

Hartselle 60, Cullman 36: Despite 22 points from Ally Sharpe, the Bearcats weren’t able to pick up a victory in their area opener against the No. 7 Tigers.

Cullman (12-10) cut its deficit to seven points with 2:20 remaining in the third quarter, but Hartselle got things going down the stretch to pull away.

See more local roundup below.

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Varsity Girls

Good Hope 83, East Lawrence 31

Ava McSwain: 29 points

Ivey Maddox: 23 points

Emma Thompson: 8 points

*Raiders made a school-record 19 3-pointers

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West Point 64, Russellville 48

Laklin Shadix: 13 points

Camryn Faulkner: 13 points

Liberty Shadix: 10 points

Hallie Wheeler: 10 points

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Hanceville 46, Ashville 44

Aaliyah Twitty: 13 points

Alex Twitty: 9 points

Kate Sterling: 8 points

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Cold Springs 75, Cleveland 20

Ella Bruer: 18 points

Kenady Graves: 14 points

Maci Brown: 11 points

Ella Dickerson: 11 points

Malaya Taylor: 13 rebounds

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Varsity Boys

Cold Springs 64, Cleveland 28

Cole Bales: 18 points, 8 rebounds

Ethan Day: 12 points

Seth Ingram: 12 points

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Good Hope 75, East Lawrence 47

Weston Hancock: 23 points

Kmal Bell: 15 points

Tyler Cone: 13 points

Tucker Malin: 11 points

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Russellville 74, West Point 62

Jay Lamar: 19 points

Kolten Perry: 14 points

JD Cochran: 8 points

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Hanceville 62, Ashville 54

Konnor Helms: 21 points

Noah Douglas: 8 points

Carson Garrett: 8 points