CAMDEN — The Bearden Bears' road to an undisputed conference title was a lot like the road it had to travel to get to Dermott: Long, narrow and curvy.
But by all means, that isn't this year's Bears' final destination.
The Bears beat Dermott in a game for the ages on Friday, 56-55, after Tyler Berry hit two free throws in the final seconds. Sontania Lawson then blocked a Dermott half-court heave to seal the win.
Trailing 40-31 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Bears flew out of the gate behind the fast play of Devarious "Dee" Hughes and went on a 7-0 run. Dermott - whose only conference loss is against the Bears - responded like any good team would with a 7-1 run of its own to take a 47-39 lead with 5:05 left in the game.
Bearden would continue to chip away, thanks to decent free-throw shooting and ball movement and knotted the game at 48 with 3:03 after Lawson went 2-2 from the charity stripe. Dermott scored when Theo"TJ" Danzy penetrated the lane and the Bears - who had just lost Dee Hughes to foul trouble - were hesitant to slide. The Bears would hit 1/2 the next possession but take the lead when Kevin Marks maned up and stripped the ball at half court and raced down the floor to find freshman starter Lavarious Hughes, who was able to lay the ball in.
The lead would change three times in the last two minutes of the game before Bearden was able to capture the win.
Dermott has the type of environment that any home team would want, but a good crowd of Bearden fans made the two-hour trip as well. The contest was physical from 'the jump,' and a total of three warnings were called against Dermott players and one against Bearden.
Bearden Head Coach Anthony Hammonds admitted that the game got so intense that he didn't realize he had put his wind-jacket on inside-out. The Bears were down by 11 at one point and had to finish the game without one of its best players.
"Dee had picked up three quick fouls in the first half so we didn't play him till midway through the third quarter," Hammonds explained. "He's a guy that we need on the court. What we did tonight is find out a way to win without one of our best players in a tough place at a critical time. Not having Dee out there is a coach's nightmare. We found people that we've played with before that can come in and contribute. Cam'ron Byes came in and played some amazing defense. He knew when to foul and when not to foul. Tyler Berry, hats off to him. We had no timeouts left and he knew he needed to drive in and get some contact and get to the free throw line. Between him, Dee and Santana there's nobody better that I'd rather have at the line. Hats off to Dermott. Those guys brought it. T.J. is a hell of a ball player. One of the best in the conference. It was just a great ball game, great exposure. An outstanding win for the Bears."
Berry finished the game with 27 points scoring 13 in the first and 10 in the fourth. He grabbed nine rebounds - including the one with under ten seconds left to play that he pushed down the court and drew contact to get to the foul line.
"I knew we didn't have any timeouts and that I had to do something with the ball," Berry said. "It just feels good. I've never been a part of anything like this before. My teammates kept themselves held down and I'm glad we came out with the victory. "
Dee Hughes was the primary ball handler for the Bears and played a big role in cutting the 11-point deficit before fouling out with seven points in limited minutes.
"It was time to win and I knew I had to step up for my teammates," Dee Hughes said. "Then, I fouled out and they had to come up with the victory without me. That was good to see. I was real happy to see my little brother doing his thing out there."
Lawson finished the game with 10 points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals.
According to long-time "voice of the Bearden Bears" Jackie Bevill, this is the first time the Bears have won an undisputed conference title since they were coached by Frankie Gathen in the 90's.