Leading comfortably by 14 points at the half, the Community School's boys' basketball team imploded in the second half, surrendering 34 points and falling to Bliss 54-53 on a last second shot in Sun Valley Tuesday night.
Led by Christian Cairncross, who had 23 points, including a school-record seven 3-pointers, the Cutthroats put up 34 points while holding Northside Conference rival Bliss to 20 in the first half. But the two teams appeared to swap uniforms in the second half, as Bliss scored 34 and the Community School just 19.
"The worm turned almost exactly 180 degrees in the second half," said Community School head coach Mike Wade.
The Cutthroats shot 41 percent in the first half, and a meager 24 percent in the second.
Compounding the issue was the Cutthroats foul trouble.
"We were already in trouble by the middle of the second quarter and it only got worse," Wade said.
The Community School amassed 23 fouls in the game, compared to the Bears 13. Bliss shot a respectable 18 of 31 from the line.
"It's just not possible to win against a pretty evenly matched team when they get so many free ones," Wade said. "It's a miracle that we even had a chance to win at the end, but we did."
Down 48-50 with five seconds left in the game, Cairncross sunk one of his seven 3-pointers to give the Cutthroats a one-point lead. But the Bears weren't done.
"Bliss got the timeout with three seconds to go and threw a desperation pass into the lane that bounced their way and Eli Gough got a short shot to fall at the buzzer," Wade said. "Game over."
Gough scored 17 points, followed by David Butler with 15.
Kevin Wade, the Cutthroats only senior, finished off his career at the Fish Tank with a respectable six points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals.
"(He) had an excellent game," Wade said.
The Cutthroats fell to 3-11 (2-8 conference) while Bliss improved to 4-5 (3-4). The Community School travels to Richfield tonight and Shoshone on Monday. The games start at 7:30 and 6 p.m., respectively.
The Community School's previous 3-point record was held by Wade's son, Connor Wade, who sunk six in one game.
