The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

A pair of regular-season closing victories last week gave the Fleming Wildcats enough push to make this week's post-season play. The Wildcats took wins over the Lone Star Longhorns on the road and 2A's Akron Rams at home to put them at 7-5 on the year and allow them to advance into the 24-team Regional/State Tournament bracket as the number-23 seed.

The scoreboard remained fairly even between Fleming and Lone Star throughout the first half of Friday's contest at Lone Star. The Wildcats held a four-point advantage at the end of the half, 25-21.

Fleming added 19 points in the third quarter and gave up just eight to the home team, but Lone Star wasn't going down without a fight. The Longhorns took the court in the final eight minutes to tack on 17 and give up just six to come within four of Fleming's total tally, 50-46, by the final horn.

Senior Kade Comstock led the Wildcats' offensive efforts with 16 points. He earned his off a three-pointer, three twos and seven good shots from the charity stripe.

Sophomore Braylen Feather followed with 13 points for the night. Feather sunk three three-point shots and earned another four points from inside the arc.

Senior Chris Goss led under the basket with 14 rebounds. He brought down two offensive and 12 defensive boards. Goss shot 100 percent from the free-throw line after going three for three and led the group in assists with five.

Saturday night brought Akron to Fleming's court for the regular-season closer.

Fleming and Akron battled back and forth for most of the game staying within single digits of each other on the score for the duration.

The fourth quarter opened with Fleming down by three, 39-36, but the home team evened that out at 40-all with two and half minutes off the fourth-quarter clock.

Akron would go on to take their lead back, but they were unable to widen the scoring gap by more than two at any point in the final minutes.

The Wildcats made their free throws at the most crucial point in the contest, trailing by one point with six seconds left. Another good shot from the charity stripe evened things out 47 and the game went into overtime.

In the four-minute final period, it was Fleming who struck first to take a two-point lead in the opening seconds of OT. They'd tack on another two, but allow Akron four to tie things up with two and half minutes left of play. A three-point shot at the two-minute mark gave the Wildcats a little breathing room. That followed by another free throw put them up by four points with a minute and a half left on the clock.

The Wildcats widened the spread to five points, but Akron would knock that lead back down to three with under a minute remaining, 55-52. Fleming would go on to advance their score to 59 by the final horn and three-pointer in the closing seconds of the game put Akron at 55 total.

Feather led the Wildcats on the scoreboard with 21 points in the game. He cashed in on four three-point shots, a single two-point bucket and went seven for eight from the free-throw line.

In addition to his offensive performance, Feather led the Wildcats under the net with nine boards. He brought down two offensive and seven defensive rebounds.

Sophomore Nolan Japp followed with 10 points for the night while Comstock followed under the net with seven rebounds.

Post-season play took the Wildcats to Grand Junction on Tuesday for a round-one match up with the number-10 ranked Caprock Academy. Round one play had not begun as of press time.

A win on Tuesday would put the Wildcats in the Sweet 16 and pit them against Mile High Academy who enters at number seven. All games, up until the final round, are set to by hosted by the higher-seeded team.