By Kevin Eckleberry

Sports Editor

It was getting a little close for comfort.

After enjoying a sizeable lead most of the night, the Callaway Cavaliers found themselves ahead by just eight points with more than four minutes to play against visiting Macon County Saturday night.

Not to worry.

The Cavs turned the heat up once again with the defense forcing some turnovers, and Quan Bray made three baskets in a row in less than a minute to push the lead back to 14.

The Cavaliers didn’t let down their guard again, and they handled the Bulldogs 68-50 to improve to 13-5 overall and 8-3 in Region 5-AA.

“We played hard, but it was just sloppy,” Callaway head coach Terry Hayes said. “We just had too many turnovers.”

Thanks to his late scoring flurry, Bray led the Cavaliers with 19 points, while Quantavius Leslie and David Rutledge scored 17 and 15 points, respectively.

The Cavs came out strong, seizing a 15-10 lead after the first quarter, and they exploded in the second period to go up 39-19 at the break.

The Cavaliers only scored seven points in the third period, but they were still up by 16 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Bulldogs went on a 13-5 run early in the fourth to get within single digits before the Cavs finally put it away.

“We had a big lead (at the half), and they let up a little bit,” Hayes said.

In the girls’ game, the Callaway Lady Cavaliers had a late lead and a chance to knock off the top dog in Region 5-AA.

Showing the form that helped them build a 10-1 region record coming into the game, though, the Lady Bulldogs outscored the Lady Cavs 4-0 in the final two minutes to escape with a 51-48 victory.

It was a tough loss for the Lady Cavs (11-8 overall), who fell to 6-5 in region play, good enough for fourth place.

Erin Anderson and Jaquincia Cameron led Callaway with 12 points apiece, while Tersheor Tigner contributed 10 points.

In a back-and-forth game, Callaway jumped out to a 20-11 lead after the first quarter, but Macon County rebounded to tie the game 26-26 at the half.

Callaway went ahead 38-34 heading into the final period, but Macon County scored the next four points to deadlock the score.

After the Lady Dogs took their first lead of the fourth quarter with 2:15 left, Callaway’s Keandrea Smith answered with a layup to put the home team ahead 48-47 with 2:05 remaining.

Macon County’s Porschia Hadley responded with a jumper with 1:00 left to give the Lady Dogs a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

The Lady Cavs had the ball last with a chance to tie it, but a last-second 3-point attempt went awry.

Callaway hosts Heard County on Tuesday.