Held to four points in the third quarter Thursday night, the Cypress Springs boys basketball team got exactly the defense it was hoping Bellaire would throw at them.

But having scored only six points in almost 15 minutes, all the Panthers needed was shots to start falling.

Cy Springs guard Ernest Wafer opened the fourth quarter on a tear, scoring 10 points in the first 3 minutes, 14 seconds and 13 of his game-high 20 in the period to guide the Panthers to a 57-46 win against the Cardinals in a 5A-Region III area game at Delmar Fieldhouse.

“They just started playing man-to-man and that’s what we like to play,” said Wafer, a 5-foot-10 senior. “We spread our offense and that made us get some open shots.”

After making just one field goal from the 6:08 mark of the second quarter to the end of the third – partly because they went into a stall for more than 4 ½ minutes before halftime – the Panthers (31-6) scored 10 points in a 1 minute, 14 second span to turn a 38-29 deficit into a one-point lead.

Wafer hit a 3-pointer and a layup to start the barrage. Then Phillip McDonald hit a 3-pointer, and Wafer made a jumper and another 3 to bring the lead to 44-38 with 4:46 left.

“(Point guard) Daquan (Williams) does a great job of drawing two (defenders) so that has to leave someone open,” Cy Springs coach John Harmatuk said. “When we drove it and drew two we got Ernest open on the wing.”

Except for a few seconds, Bellaire (26-6) never got within seven points again.

Cy Springs advances to play Hastings or Madison in a regional quarterfinal next Monday or Tuesday. The site and time will be determined Friday night after those teams play at Manvel.

With McDonald hobbled because of a deep thigh bruise sustained in the Panthers’ bi-district win against Morton Ranch, Cy Springs recovered from Bellaire’s 9-0 run to end the first quarter by taking a 25-23 lead early in the second on Wafer’s coast-to-coast layup.

But with the game being played at a frenzied pace, Harmatuk went against his norm and pulled his team into what looked like a stall to regain their composure and collective breath.

“I hate stalling. We weren’t stalling,” Harmatuk said. “I wanted them to come out and guard us and (Bellaire) coach (Bruce) Glover wasn’t going to come out and guard us. I wasn’t smart enough to know what to do so we just hung on to the ball.”

Bellaire opened the third quarter with a burst of its own, reeling off an 8-0 run to take a 31-27 lead. Nicholas Foreman hit a jumper from the arc, Tobi Oyedeji threw down a thunderous slam over two defenders and Randall Ard hit a jumper from the left baseline.

Sheldon McClellan hit a 3-point play as the quarter ended to make it 38-29.

That brought the Cardinals crowd to its feet, but no one knew what was coming next.

“We’re too experienced and too tough not to make a run and that’s what we did in the fourth quarter,” Harmatuk said.

McDonald added 15 points and Jon Smith 14, 12 in the first half, for Cy Springs.

McClellan scored 12 and Jamel Outler 11 for Bellaire.

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