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In the third game of the opening round of the 2024 Comets Christmas Classic men’s basketball tournament Friday, the West Stanly Colts took on the Bradford Prep Bears out of Charlotte.

After an even first half, West Stanly showed the touch from the outside and built a lead, but the Bears took the game down to the wire. The Colts edged the Bears at the buzzer, 73-72.

Cade Hinson had a huge night for the Colts (5-6) pouring in 37 points including five three-pointers.

Cooper Crisco added 18 for West, 12 of which came in the first half.

Micah Jones led Bradford Prep (5-4) with 26 points, 24 of which came in the second half. Fourteen of Jones’ points came in a fourth-quarter rally which saw Bradford erase a 10-point West Stanly lead.

Kayden Bradley added 22 for the Bears, 15 coming in the first half.

The two teams battled evenly through the opening quarter, with West soring the final six points to lead after one, 20-16, with Hinson scoring 12 of the Colts’ points in the frame.

Bradford (5-4) again led late in the second before a West push put the Colts up at halftime, 31-30.

In the third quarter, West Stanly caught fire from the three-point arc, making four in the frame and building a lead at the end of the period, 54-46. Hinson made a pair of three pointers back-to-back in the frame as the Colts built the team’s advantage.

“I knew one of our best players was out, so I guess I had to step up,” Hinson said, referring to senior Gavyn Efird being out due to illness.

But the Bears, who had pressed and trapped most of the game, switched to a man-to-man defense in the fourth quarter and slowly fought back. Trailing 60-50 with around six minutes left in regulation, Bradford outscored North 19-6. A Jones three-pointer with 1:56 left on the clock put the Bears up, 69-68.

Thirty seconds later, Luke Eddy connected on a three from the top of the key to put West back ahead.

Bradford’s Luke Hanson answered with a corner three with 1:13 on the clock to put the Bears back ahead by one.

West’s Hinson was then fouled in the low post by Jones, and calmly sank two free throws to put West up for good, 73-72.

The Bears had two chances in the final seconds to win. A Bradley 17-foot shot was short, then Hanson got the offensive rebound, but his eight-foot shot missed as time expired.

“More than anything, we told our guys to keep fighting as hard as they could,” West head coach Dusty Pflugner said. “We knew it was going to come down to a last second sort of thing. (Bradford) went a little bit smaller, so I thought our bigger guy on the court who does handle and shoot it well, we could put him in the post and let him go to work.”

Pflugner added, “every team we play is going to make a run at some point…we just have to have the intestinal fortitude to fight back and weather the storm.”

The West coach called Friday’s victory “a signature win…against a team that’s highly ranked. We found a way to do that; those guys are really good.”

West Stanly takes on North Stanly Saturday night at 6:30 in the winner’s bracket semifinals of the tournament.