The Oxford Wildcats have been the one nemesis the Brandon varsity boys basketball team cannot shake this season.
The Wildcats, who trailed the Blackhawks 56-53 with about two minutes left in the game, defeated the Blackhawks 60-56 in a Feb. 21 game at Oxford. Oxford has handed Brandon their only two losses of the year, as the Blackhawks are now 15-2 overall and 11-2 in the Flint Metro, while the Wildcats improved to 10-8 and 9-4.
Despite the loss, Brandon clinched their first outright Flint Metro League championship in school history, as Lapeer East defeated Fenton Feb. 21, leaving Brandon two games ahead of both Fenton and Oxford with one league game left to play.
The Wildcats? Brad Dugan fouled out of the game with about 6-1/2 minutes left in the game and Oxford up six points, but Brandon went on a 14-4 run to take a 54-52 lead with 2:14 left in the fourth.
However, the Wildcats eventually tied the game at 56 with 1:40 left in the fourth, then hit a layup with about 30 seconds left to take a 58-56 lead. Oxford then hit a pair of free throws to seal the victory.
The Blackhawks led 32-29 at halftime, but Oxford outscored Brandon 16-8 in the third quarter to take a 45-40 lead at the end of the period.
Like the Wildcats, the Blackhawks lost one of their players to foul trouble, as center Erik Allar fouled out of the game. In addition, forward Donald Carter played much of the fourth quarter with four fouls.
Carter led the Blackhawks with 16 points, while Adam Howard added 13 points and Allar nine. Alan Willar scored 17 points for the Wildcats, while Dugan added 10.
On Feb. 16, the Blackhawks defeated Clio 58-40 in a Flint Metro game. With the loss, the Mustangs fell to 7-11 overall and 4-8 in the league.
The key stretch for the Blackhawks came in the second period. After taking a 13-10 lead at the end of the first period, Brandon pressured the Mustangs into several turnovers and converted them into points on the other end.
Brandon outscored Clio 20-7 in the second quarter to take a 33-17 lead at halftime, and controlled the game the rest of the way.
Carter and Ryan Smith each led the Blackhawks with 13 points, while Adrian Harges added nine and Gary Glasby eight. Jeremy Duby led the Mustangs with 10 points.