Tense and exciting basketball games often end with excitement, just the way they are played.
Thursday night's District 5-AA contest between Sweetwater and Sequoyah was no exception.
In this game, the final excitement belonged to the Cats.

That came just two seconds before the final horn when Jamarus Brewster tipped in a teammate's miss to provide the winning points in a 57-55 Sweetwater win.
Sequoyah's Tevin West tied the score at 55 with two free throws with 51 seconds to play and the Cats elected to hold for the final shot.

Corey Billingsley held the basketball, then drove into the lane and launched a jump shot that bounced off the rim to the right side. Brewster grabbed the ball and pitched it in the net with his body at an angle almost under the backboard.
There were 10 lead changes in the contest, six in the final period.
The teams were separated by only one point at the half and the score was tied with one quarter to play.

Billingsley was in his usual place at the top of the Sweetwater scorebook with a game-high 20 points.
Gavyn Davis added nine points for the Cats, Joey Raby tallied eight points, Kurt Woodby got six and Brewster and Jimiese McDermott scored four points apiece.
Sweetwater made 7 of 13 free throws, five by Billingsley and two by Davis. Each of them made a 3-pointer.

Sequoyah got balanced scoring with four players in double figures.
Steven Bledsoe led with 13 points and made the Chiefs' only trey.
Derrick Atchley added 12 points and Jethro Griffin and West tallied 11 points apiece.
Justin Phillips scored seven for Sequoyah and A. J. Whited scored one.
Others who played for the Chiefs were Lucas Watson, Brandon Lingerfelt and Matt Williams.
Sequoyah made 10 of 22 free throws.

Billingsley got the first points then the teams swapped field goals until Griffin gave Sequoyah their first lead at 7-6 with a three-point play.
Atchley then stripped the ball away at midcourt and drove for an easy two, then stole it again on the next Cats' possession and raised the Chiefs' edge to 11-6.
Davis hit two freebies for Sweetwater, Atchley scored again for Sequoyah and Raby counted for the Cats.

Phillips scored for the Chiefs with a Bledsoe assist and Woodby added two for the Cats off the offensive glass. West then held the ball and made a one-on-one move at the one-second mark to give the home team a 17-12 lead after one.
The teams swapped points for the first five minutes of the second stanza, with Sequoyah on top 24-18 at 3:15 before the half.
But then the Chiefs offense went into the doldrums and they did not score for the remainder of the half.

Sweetwater took advantage and added seven points to their side of the board to take a 25-24 lead at the intermission.
Billingsley made back-to-back baskets around the six-minute mark of the third to give Sweetwater a five-point lead at 31-26.
Phillips cut that by two at 5:40, but once more the Chiefs could not find the net and scored just one free throw in almost three minutes.
The Cats got four consecutive free throws from Billingsley and a McDermott basket to seize the biggest lead of the contest, 37-28.

That came with just over three minutes to play in the third period, and then Sweetwater too had a hard time finding the goal.
They got one free throw from Billingsley and a put back from Brewster to leave them with 40 points after three.
Bledsoe took over for Sequoyah in that same span when he hit a trey, completed a three point play the old-fashioned way, added a 2-pointer, and then executed a block and take away that led to a West field goal. That tied the score at 40 with one quarter to play.

The lead changed hands six times in the final eight minutes of play.
Phillips and Bledsoe did it for Sequoyah and Billingsley gave the Cats the lead three times in the frame, the last long-range three-point bomb to turn a one point Sequoyah lead into a 55-53 Sweetwater advantage.

Sequoyah had a chance to get even at 1:37 but missed two free throws.
Sweetwater called time, but afterwards made a crucial turnover.
The Chiefs took advantage when West made two tosses at the 51-second mark to knot the score at 55 and set the stage for the final drama.

Sequoyah will host Tellico Plains on Friday at approximately 7:30 p.m. while Sweetwater hosts Loudon on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.