Mets Surge In Fourth Quarter For A Win

— Camden Fairview led for three quarters, but in the end eStem pulled off a 47- 42 upset during first round action at the Class 4A State basketball tournament Wednesday, March 4 at Farmington’s Cardinal Arena.

No. 4 seed eStem (24-13) did it the hard way, overcoming a slow start that saw the Mets manage just three points in the first quarter and finished with with two of their offensive threats, brothers JK and Jacob Sanders, on the bench with five fouls apiece.

The Mets got back into the game by outscoring Camden

Fairview 16-12 in the second quarter and overcame a one-point halftime deficit of 20-19 and advanced to take on North No. 1 seed Ozark on Thursday.

While the Mets struggled with their shooting, sophomore JK Sanders made up for that by driving to the bucket scoring 17 points to carry the team’s offense. Estem outscored Camden Fairview 17-9 in the fourth. The Mets used an 8-0 run to capture their first lead of the second half on Jacob Sanders’ free throws with just over five minutes remaining.

A crucial sequence occurred on the next possession with Camden Fairview’s Christian Strahan electing not to pass off during a 2-on-1 fast break that would have likely resulted in a layup. Instead he fell while absorbing contact from a Met defender and lost the ball out-of-bounds.

At the other end Shamar Womack’s tip-in increased the Mets’ lead to 40-37 at the 4:32 mark. Camden Fairview ( 11-18), No. 3 South Region, got 6 points in the fourth quarter from Myron Gunter, who had 11 for the game. He sank free throws with 1:29 showing to make it a one-point game with the Cardinals trailing 43-42.

Neither team shot well at the charity stripe. eStem went 14-for-31 while Camden Fairview was 15-of-24. Still timely free throws by eStem became the difference. Camden Fairview missed two free throws with 35 seconds left that would have pushed the Cardinals ahead. Meanwhile eStem made 2- of- 4 free throws stretching its lead to 45-42 then got a layup by Dylan Sewell with 2.9 seconds left to seal the deal.