By Rick Martin, KCWH radio 99.3/101.7 fm

The Mount Shasta Bears got a much needed win in a close game Friday night, rallying in the fourth quarter to beat Fall River, 56-53, and tighten up the Shasta Cascade League race.

The Bears fell behind early, and looked out of rhythm as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 15-6 lead. But after coach Kirk Andrus called a timeout, the Bears responded with three buckets in the final two minutes of the period to claw within three points. The second quarter was just ugly, for both teams. Bad passes, bad shots, bad defense. Fall River outscored Mount Shasta 8-7 in the frame, and led 23-19 at the half.

“We needed to come out with some intensity after halftime, and we did,” Andrus said. “We needed guard play and we needed to show some heart. And we did both tonight.”

The Bears got Jake Padula going after halftime, as he found his sweet spot in the left corner, and knocked down back to back threes to keep the game close. Erik Thelander had four points in the quarter, and the Bears briefly tied the game at 34. But Bulldog forward Taylor Sloat hit two ridiculously long threes of his own – giving him 21 points on the night – and his team took a 40-34 lead into the final eight minutes.

But in the 4th quarter, Mount Shasta went to work on defense. They did a fine job keeping the ball away from Sloat, and got some key defensive stops. They eventually tied the game up at 47, before Sloat hit a FT for a one point lead with just under three and a half minutes remaining. The Bears misfired on their next possession and Fall River came back down looking to extend the lead. But an errant pass was picked off by Padula, who went coast to coast, knifing between three defenders for a lay up that put the Bears ahead.

The teams traded buckets again, and went into the final minute separated by just a single point, Mount Shasta a head 51-50. Fall River turned the ball over near the center of the floor, and after a scramble, Padula picked it up near the three point line, with an open lane to the basket in front of him. But the shooter wanted to shoot, so he looked down, set his feet and drained a long three that put his team up 54-50.

Fall River, however, wasn’t dead yet. Sloat caught the ball on the left side, took a hard step towards the basket, then stepped back and nailed a three pointer of his own from NBA range to cut the lead back to one.

The Bears got it again, needed to get a quality possession and a high percentage shot to try and extend the lead. Brad Thomas had the ball in his hands on the right side, looked into the post and then gave the ball back up. But when they put it in his hands a second time, he got it right, feeding a perfect bounce pass to Mark Maumasi in the low post for an easy score and a 56-53 lead. Sloat got the call for Fall River on their final possession, but was long on a three from the right side that would have tied the game. On the rebound, however, Erik Thelander was whistled for a foul, putting Shawn Laisen at the line for a one-and-one with two seconds left. He needed to at least make the first to give his team a chance, but was off the mark as Maumasi rebounded and ran out the clock.

“We needed it, no doubt about it,” said Andrus. “We know what we can do, and this was a very satisfying win against a good team, a good shooting team.”

Mount Shasta (11-7, 4-2) trails Fall River by a half game for second place. Weed still sits atop the league despite their Friday night loss in Trinity.

Padula finished with 19 for the Bears while Thelander had 10, and Thomas and Tim Jaegel each had 7. Mount Shasta got a total of 11 points off the bench Friday, compared with just two points in the loss the Weed.

Fall River (15-4, 5-2) sank 11 threes on the night, and are shooting almost 40% from outside as a team. Sloat had 5 of those, and scored 25 on the evening. Will McClelland added 9 for the Bulldogs.