CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Bradley Central junior Mason Rothwell is always the player his teammates pick to make three straight free throws in order to end practice and go home.
Rothwell's stellar aim from the charity stripe helped cue a celebration for the Bears as he hit the game-winning free throws with two seconds left to hand a JaCobi Wood-less Cleveland squad its first loss of the season in the District 5-AAA championship game at Walker Valley High School.
"Coach (Chuck Clark) has us in the gym every day practicing our free throws," Rothwell said after a wild 62-60 victory over the Bears' No. 1-ranked rival. "We all have to be ready for when that moment comes. In the end it's the team that stays composed the longest. I think we did a great job of that in the second half."
The Blue Raiders (29-1) rested their Mr. Basketball candidate for the second straight game as Wood recovers from an ankle injury for the region tournament this Saturday.
Reggie Tucker's group looked poised to close a fourth straight district championship as Antonio Whaley drained clock and then found a streaking Mo Schramm for a powerful dunk and a 60-55 lead awith 2:57 remaining.
However, missed free throws, a careless turnover and a controversial finish ended the perfection of Cleveland's season.
Bradley Central (21-5) tied the score at 60 with 1:30 left as tournament MVP Tray Curry pulled up with a defender in his grill and hit a straight-on 3-pointer.
Cleveland then iced the clock looking for the game-winning shot, but Grant Hurst could not get a foul call despite seeming to receive contact on his drive to the left side of the hoop.
With two seconds remaining and the Bears grabbing the rebound, an official backpedaled and made contact with Wood, who accidentally came a step too far off the bench and was on the court.
The contact was issued an immediate technical foul, which sent Rothwell to the line, where he put the stamp on Bradley Central's sweep of the girls' and boys' district championships.
Curry finished with 19 points and provided an emphatic first-half dunk, as did teammate Quante Berry (15 points).
"Mason is a good player, and we can always count on him to knock down his free throws," Curry said of Rothwell, who scored 16. "We are very excited and just happy. It's all shocking to us right now. This win means a lot to us."
Blue Raider junior Kley McGowan led all with 24 points and was unstoppable in the third quarter, scoring 14 points and completing a four-point play.
"We just had too many mental breakdowns," Cleveland coach Tucker said. "We are going to learn from it and bounce back. At the end of the day our ultimate goal is to get back to state. This is a process along the way, and our guys are going to be extra motivated after this."
Cleveland went into the district tournament in 1968-69 with a 28-0 mark, which was also snapped by Bradley Central.
"We let our guys know about that," Bears coach Chuck Clark said. "This has always been a rivalry and been a tough game. This is just a step for us. Our goal is to win a region championship now and go to the glass house (state venue in Murfreesboro)."
The Blue Raiders will host Cookeville on Saturday, while the Bears will host Stone Memorial.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @PMacCoon.