GOREVILLE — The Goreville Blackcats are the outright champions of the Black Diamond-West after holding off Sesser-Valier 68-67 Saturday night.

The Blackcats led by as many as 16 in the second half but had to withstand a furious Red Devils’ rally for the win. S-V’s Garrett Gunter scored 21 of his game high 27 points in the second half to lead the rally. Gunter’s long three-pointer with :20 tied the game at 67.

Goreville’s Briley Dunn was fouled with 10 seconds left. He made one of two free throws to give the Blackcats the lead. They could not celebrate the championship until Jake Newbury’s potential game winner for S-V came up short as the buzzer sounder.

“That’s what we talked about at the beginning of the year. Your goal is to win hardware,” said Goreville head coach Todd Tripp. “That’s the only hardware we had available. You want to win conference every year, but (this year) that’s all we had. I just feel like our kids have played hard every week, every game.”

Kanon Webb led the Blackcats with 21. Dunn also reached double figures with 10. Gavin Woodland scored 17 for the Red Devils who finished their season at 8-4.

Goreville improves to 13-2 (10-1). The Blackcats will close out their season with three games this week–at home against Chester and Woodlawn Monday and Tuesday before the season finale at Beto