By MICHAEL BROWNING

LOGAN BANNER

MATEWAN -- The Matewan Tigers were nearly upset by visiting Mount Mission Monday night in the Tigerdome as the hosts needed overtime to win, 70-60.

Matewan toyed with Mount Mission throughout the first three quarters and then suffered a disastrous fourth frame in which the Tigers were outscored 15-5, as Mount Mission tied the score at 55 to force the OT.

Matewan then scored 15 points, while the Tiger defense held Mount Mission to only five points to get the win.

"We went up on them 10-0 in the first quarter and then let them come back and tie it up," Matewan Coach Phillip Mitchell said. "For two quarters -we didn't play any ball. I think we thought we had the game won in the first quarter and, in the second quarter, we decided to go out for a sandwich. We came back in the third quarter and played well, but then I think we decided we needed some pop to go with that sandwich and went out to get a drink in the fourth and we didn't play and let them tie the ballgame.

"But, Colton Copley scored 10 points in the third quarter and eight big points in the overtime. They just couldn't stop him -- not in the overtime nor the rest of the game. Colton scored 27 points in the game. We saw we could go to him and he worked on them all night long."

Matt Kennedy was next with 16 points and eight rebounds. Josh Sammons and Chaz Clusky each scored two, while Max Whitt finished with one.

"Playing in overtime was a good experience for us because we had never been put in that situation this year," Coach Mitchell said.

The Tigers improve to 19-2 .

The Tigers are the No. 1 seed in the upcoming boys sectional tournament and received a bye to the second round of the tourney. Matewan will play next Tuesday night the winner of the Williamson-Gilbert game set to be played on Friday.