HOLTON – The Holton boys basketball team looked like the likely winner early in its conference showdown against Kent City on Tuesday night, after jumping out to an 11-0 lead.

But somehow the intense matchup came down to the final minutes of the game.

With 1:44 on the clock, Holton’s Carter Brant drained a three-pointer to put the Red Devils ahead 35-34. One minute later, Kent City’s Kyler Larson scored two points and the Eagles led 36-35.

Kent City went into foul mode at that point, getting whistled four times before Brant finally got to the line for Holton with 12 seconds left. Neither shot fell, however, and a jumble of players knocked the ball into Kent City’s possession. The Red Devils could not get the ball back, and the Eagles ran out the clock and won the game 36-35.

“It was great to grind out a win,” said Kent City coach David Ingles. “We hadn’t grinded one out all year, and to get that I think will help our confidence a little bit.”

Both teams came into the game undefeated in CSAA Silver action, but Kent City’s win put the Eagles on top of the division with a 7-0 record (10-4 overall). Holton fell to 10-4 and 6-1.

Ingles knew how tough Holton would be, but said the Red Devils’ 2-1-2 trapping zone defense made it hard to prepare for the game.

“Trying to explain what they [Holton] would do to them at our practices was hard,” Ingles explained. “We couldn’t simulate it. We just had to tell them, and we didn’t respond well in that first half.”

The tight Holton defense stopped the Eagles from scoring for more than seven minutes in the first quarter. Meanwhile Kevin Erikson and Brant scored five and six points, respectively, and the Red Devils raced out to an 11-0 lead.

Kent City’s Seth Vanderwest finally hit a free throw to put the Eagles on the board, then Larson nailed a last-second three-pointer, leaving Holton with an 11-4 lead at the first break.

The Red Devils held the Eagles scoreless for almost six minutes in the second quarter, but only managed two points themselves, and had a 13-4 lead. The Kent City offense finally showed some life before halftime when Carter Magoon nailed two threes and Vanderwest added a bucket, leaving Holton with a thin 16-12 edge at the intermission.

“The first half really stifled us,” Ingles said. “We couldn’t get the ball moving, and we couldn’t get the attacks. At halftime, we talked more about getting in some gaps, attacking the middle man, and making him make decisions. After that, our offense finally started to click.”

The Holton boys scored the first points of the second half, but the Eagles answered them shot for shot. Kent City tied the game 21-21 midway through the third quarter and trailed 27-25 heading into the fourth. Larson scored eight points in the third for Kent City while Brant has six for Holton.

The Eagles opened the fourth quarter with a bang, scoring six unanswered points in just over a minute to take a 31-27 lead. Holton fought back, with Brant drained a three to give the Red Devils 35-34 edge with under two minutes to go.

Larson hit a layup with 45 seconds left to put Kent City ahead again.

With just one foul on the board, the Eagles began using what they had left against the Red Devils, forcing Brant to the line on the fourth. He missed both free throws and Kent City recovered the ball. The Devils tried to force the Eagles to the line, but could not foul Kent City before time expired.

“These kids are really good at adapting,” Ingles said. “Our second halves this year have been fantastic. The second half tonight was a really good attack on their defense, instead of letting them make the tempo.”

Larson totaled 13 points on the night, including the final layup to put Kent City ahead for good. Holton held Larson to three points in the first half, but he picked up the pace down the stretch.

“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Larson said. “We knew it would be a tough game to win, so we played our hearts out and battled to the end.”

Magoon drained three three-pointers for the Eagles.

Brant scored nearly half of the Red Devils’ points, totaling a game-high 17. Wyatt Monette added eight points and Erikson put up seven.

“We knew it was going to be a coin-flip game,” said Holton coach Keith Swanson. “We had a good idea of what we were going to see tonight. We didn’t see anything we weren’t expecting, we just had hoped to make a couple more plays. We’ll play them again in 10 days, so we hope to learn from tonight and get better.”