ASKEWVILLE -It came down to the wire and then some.

In what proved to be the best game of the night at the Bethel Tip-Off Tournament an evenly matched game between Bethel Assembly Christian Academy and Fellowship Christian Academy couldn’t find a winner in regulation.

It had all the drama and excitement of a college game you would watch on television.

The Eagles fell prey to the Lions as this one went into overtime; the final score was 55-49.

Both teams started out defensively only allowing six points to be scored in the first three minutes of play.

Eagles freshman Stephen Miller put Bethel on the board first in the opening three seconds of the game.

Fellowship’s trio of Daniel Spalding, David Stephens and Zack Tucker racked up eight points to put the Lions ahead 8-2.

EJosh Miller banged in a three pointer and Miller hit another basket to bring it Bethel to withing 8-7.

Fellowship’s Tucker, Robert Whitt and Jon Bland and sank there shots to run the score up to 15-7.

Bethel’s junior standout Trey Denton ended the period driving up the middle for two, making it 15-9.

Jason Thomas came out in the second period sinking the shot and Denton came to life, driving another one in to make it 17-14.

Thomas hit a triple and Denton finishes the half hitting the hoop to bring it to 20-19.

Two minutes into the second half Bethel’s duo of Miller and Denton put Bethel in the lead 25-23.

Then Thomas hit a three-pointer and the momentum kept building as Denton went on a one-man scoring spree, running the score up to 36-35 to end the third quarter.

The fourth period is where the drama and excitement unfolded as Denton, Miller, and Larry Caldwell continued to run the score up.

With four minutes to go, Joe Mizelle, Bethel’s head coach, saw his worst nightmare unfold.

Denton was injured at the net when he twisted his ankle, aggravating an old injury.

It got worse with Denton out it was up to Miller and Caldwell to pull up the slack until Miller fouled out.

Now it was up to Caldwell to lead the team.

Caldwell did just that as he and Josh Askew started sinking shots.

With two minutes to go the Eagles were ahead by six all they had to do was hold the ball and they did until Fellowship forced the fouls and Caldwell fouled out with the score standing at 49-47.

With five seconds to go Fellowships Jon Bland got fouled and he made both shots from the charity stripe to tie it up and send this one into overtime.

With Denton, Miller, and Caldwell out, Frank Feher, Askew, and Thomas were just overpowered and Bethel fell to Fellowship 55-49.

Fellowship (55): Jon Bland – 15, Daniel Spalding – 12, Zack Tucker – 10, David Stephens – 10, R. Whitt – 4, J. Sabo – 2, M. Tucker – 2

Bethel (49): Trey Denton – 23, Jason Thomas – 11, S. Miller – 9, J. Askew – 2, J. Freeman – 2, L. Caldwell – 1