Frontier’s Jacob Bowersock (10) goes up for a jumper as Waterford’s Colby Roberts (44) contests during Saturday’s game at Hank Morus Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

NEW MATAMORAS — Jacob Bowersock, Kason Hoff and Avery Powell combined for 49 points Saturday evening as the Frontier Cougars pulled away late to a 58-48 win over the Waterford Wildcats at the Hank Morus Gymnasium.

The Cougars actually trailed by as many as five points late in the third quarter before winning the final 10 minutes of the game and improving to 7-4 on the season.

“We’ve let a few games get away from us this year but tonight we finished the way we needed to finish,” said Frontier head coach Roger Kirkpatrick. “When the ball goes in the hole it can be an easy game and we made our shots tonight.”

Frontier possessed a 10-7 lead at the end of the first quarter and led by a single point midway through the second before going on a 7-0 run to take an eight-point lead, the biggest lead possessed by either squad in the contest.

A two-pointer by Cougar senior Hunter Taylor off of an assist from Powell started the run before Taylor came up with a steal under the Cougar basket and put it back up and in for two more.

Hoff knocked down an open three on the next Cougar possession as they pulled out to a 23-15 lead.

Waterford needed to answer with a rally to close out the half and they did as they scored the final six points of the second quarter.

A free throw by Finn Pennock followed by a pair of free throws and then a triple from Reese Lang provided the answer for the Wildcats and sent them to the locker room trailing 23-21.

The D.J. Cunningham-coached Wildcats hoped to carry the momentum that they carried into halftime into the second half and they managed to do just that as they scored the first eight points of the second half to complete a 14-0 run to turn what once was an eight-point deficit into a 29-23 lead.

Free throws by Powell and Braden Powers finally got the Cougars on the board in the second half and Bowersock knocked down a huge triple to pull his team back to within a point.

Later in the quarter a pair of Waterford free throws by Avery Pottmeyer and an old-fashioned three-point play by Gavin Heiner pushed the visitors lead back to five.

Those three points would turn out to be the only three points in the game for the talented Heiner who spent the majority of the game on the sidelines due to foul trouble.

Powell had a somewhat quiet beginning to his night but the Cougars leading scorer began to come to life by driving to the bucket for two to cut the lead to three.

Bowersock’s two-free throws cut the lead to a point before Powell closed out the third period with an old-fashioned three-point play off of an assist from Bowersock to put the Cougars back in front heading to the final quarter of action.

“It was a really hard-fought, physical game that was kind of a roller coaster,” said Kirkpatrick. “We were up, then they were up but we were able to keep our composure and make the plays we needed too.”

Another three by Bowersock, his third of the game opened the final quarter for the Cougars but Waterford answered with a two-pointer by Pennock and a three by Lang, also his third from long range in the game to tie things back up.

With both Bowersock and Powell aggressively driving to the basket that opened up some opportunities on the perimeter for Hoff and the left-handed shooter took advantage in a big way as he drained a floater and a pair of three-pointers in a matter of two minutes to give the Cougars a six-point lead.

“Those two (Powell and Bowersock) kicking the ball back out to me was how I was able to get those open looks,” said Hoff, who made four out of eight from behind the arc. “Knowing they have confidence in me taking those shots was big for me.”

Pennock led the Wildcats with 17 points and his old-fashioned three-point play closed the Cougar lead to 49-46 with less than three minutes to play.

Powell answered though with a strong drive to the basket for two and then after a Cougar stop on defense Powell drew a foul and calmly knocked down both free throws to give Frontier a 53-46 lead with now under two minutes to play.

Yet another stop by the Cougar defense gave them the ball right back and Taylor provided the dagger when he cashed in with a two-pointer off of an assist from Hoff to stretch the lead to 55-46.

Kirkpatrick felt like Taylor quietly was a huge factor in his team getting the win.

“We only played six kids and every single one of them contributed including Hunter,” said Kirkpatrick of Taylor who chipped in with eight points and five rebounds. “He has come along way and has become a great leader for us.”

Bowersock led all scorers with 19 points while also pulling down five rebounds and dishing out three assists.

“Early on we weren’t hitting from the outside so we had to start taking it to the hole,” said Bowersock. “It seemed like once Kason (Hoff) started making some shots we all got going too.”

Hoff chipped in with 16 points while Powell added 14 for the winners.

“It was a tough hard fought game and I thought we played pretty well,” said Powell, who is on the verge of eclipsing the 1,200-point mark in his outstanding Cougar career. “We played really good, physical team defense all game long and Kason Hoff made some huge shots for us down the stretch.”

Joining Pennock in double figures for Waterford (2-8) was Lang with 14 while Weston Fairchild added eight points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

The Cougars lost the battle of the boards handily to Waterford (35-16) but turned the ball over just five times in the game including three in the final quarter against Waterford’s full-court pressure.

Both teams will get a bit of a rest as the Wildcats will be off until Friday when they host Belpre while the Cougars will get 10 days off before they travel to Fort Frye for a rematch with the Cadets.