Huntingdon basketball coach Jason Morris would have rather settled the issue on the floor. Tuesday night, the host Mustangs topped West Carroll 48-46 to claim the top-seed outright. A West Carroll win would have meant the two teams would have been tied atop the standings.

"That's the way it should be," said Morris. "I feel a lot better about things settling it on the floor."

What started out as a track meet turned into a good, old fashioned slugfest that went down to the wire. Huntingdon took an 11-point lead mid way in the second frame only to watch the War Eagles methodically work themselves back into contention with a big third-quarter run.

>From there it was a wild race to the finish. Two buckets from senior Kenneth Hillsman scooted the 'Stangs in front by three twice. Kevin Taylor's free throw narrowed the lead to two, 45-43, but freshman Chris Donald flushed a 10-footer with 1:52 and the Mustangs led 47-43.

The War Eagles hit the warpath. With 1:04, junior post Xavier Webb dropped in a pair to close within a deuce. Sixteen seconds later, John Taylor hit one of two free throws to move West Carroll within a point. Hillsman won the struggle for the rebound and sent the outlet to teammate John Thomas, who was fouled with 17.9 to play. He hit one of two freebies to edge the Mustangs up by two, 48-46.

With :04 to play, West Carroll's Kevin Taylor drove the lane and took a shot which missed. Donald stripped Taylor of the rebound and held on to the ball until the horn sounded, preserving the victory and the 13A regular-season title.

The McKenzie Rebels didn't exactly light up the offense, but neither did Gleason. The Bulldogs didn't score for the first 12:54 of the first half yet only trailed by 10 at the half, 18-8. It was the 25-7 run in the third quarter that did in the Bulldogs.

McKenzie captured a 60-29 non-district victory in the last game of the regular season for both teams.

"I thought we rushed a bit in the first half and took some bad shots," said McKenzie coach Larry Joe Smith. "We came out better in the second half."

McKenzie's defense played a role in Gleason's struggles early. Gleason was 0 for its first 13 shots before Ethan Lowrance broke the ice.

In the meantime, junior Randy Lacey started things off with a triple in the first frame and seniors Bryan Huffman, John Craig Howell and Daniel Duncan did their damage in fashioning the 10-point margin at halftime.

Byron Fuqua's personal 6-0 rampage in the final two minutes, which included a triple, kept the Bulldogs in the game.

But the Rebels opened the floodgates in the third frame. Adam Bennett and Brandon Bailey drew the Bulldogs within eight, 20-12, when the Rebels exploded. Duncan had 10 points in the 23-2 run. Sophomore Beau Brown ended the spree with two big buckets of his own and the Rebels were in front 43-15 after three.

In the final frame, Fuqua and Bennett each nailed down threes for Gleason while McKenzie junior Clint Anderson nailed the first three of his career with under 5:00 to play. By then, the game was well in hand.

For the night, McKenzie was 25-54 shooting and outrebounded the Bulldogs 33-22. Gleason was 10-42 shooting and had 23 turnovers.

Fuqua led Gleason with 11 points, Bennet scored seven points while Bailey scored six. Brian Taylor added three and Lowrance scored two.

Lacey led the Rebels with 21 points, Duncan added 12 and Anderson had eight. Huffman scored eight points and Huffman tossed in six.

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