AMBOY – Despite coming into Tuesday’s 1A Amboy Regional quarterfinal with just four wins, the Paw Paw Bulldogs weren’t going to play for their playoff lives without a fight.

At the end of that fight, the AFC Raiders came away with a scintillating 93-76 win – establishing a season-high for points scored this season.

Paw Paw (4-20) used a 3-point barrage to score as many third-quarter points as they in the entire first half. Freshman Michael Lampson drained four 3s to highlight a 31-point third quarter for the Bulldogs, but Adam Hart had the last laugh at the buzzer.

Tied at 62 with 10 seconds remaining, the Raiders (12-18) drove down the court quickly but lost the ball near the top of the key. After a scramble pitting Raiders and Bulldogs, the ball landed in Hart’s hands with 3 seconds remaining.

The only person around standing up, Hart hit a 13-footer at the buzzer after stepping over the head of Paw Paw’s Brandon Heiman to give the Raiders a 64-62 lead with 8 minutes to play.

“The ball was loose, and I just saw it on the floor,” Hart said. “One of our guys did a great job diving on the floor, knocking it away from Brandon. I knew time was running out, and I picked it up and kind of just threw it up there. It went in, and we just got going after that.”

Hart’s buzzer-beater gave him 26 points with a quarter to play; he added 10 more in the fourth quarter to finish with a career-high 36 points.

“I just try to go out there and help our team win,” Hart said. “They did a great job giving me the ball, and I had a good night.”

With foul trouble looming, the Bulldogs couldn’t remain swift without contact in the fourth quarter. The Raiders hit 16 of 21 free throws in the fourth to pull away.

Paw Paw committed 20 second-half fouls, and finished with 31. Three-pointers were also in abundance for the Bulldogs; they hit 11 total and Lampson finished with six for 20 points.

“We just came out firing on all cylinders,” Lampson said. “We didn’t expect that. Our game plan wasn’t that. All of us just got hot, and it just took off from there.”

Paw Paw didn’t hit a 3 in the fourth quarter, once the Raiders found out they had to get back to the other side of the court quick enough to prevent that from happening.

“You got to figure they can’t keep doing that,” AFC coach Russ Zick said. “We had to guard them a little harder, and we moved them out to 24 feet, and if you go that far out, you’re lucky to shoot 16 percent.”

Paw Paw came out fast and furious after the tipoff. The Bulldogs were quick to clog up the passing lanes in the first quarter, and they came away with seven steals and a 17-15 lead after the first 8 minutes.

The Raiders fared better in the second quarter. Hart came away with back-to-back putbacks of missed shots to push out to a 28-23 lead with 4:35 to go. Cody Penick added the Raiders’ third offensive board, and third putback, with 3:09 left, grabbing his own missed 3-pointer and driving in the lane for a 30-23 lead – AFC’s largest lead of the first half.

Passes were more timely for the Raiders in the second quarter, as the Bulldogs came away with just one steal. Hart scored a bucket in the final minute of the second quarter after a series of quick clean passes, the final of which landed to a wide-open Hart in the right line – the AFC crowd cheered before he even threw up the successful shot.

Heiman led Paw Paw with 24 points.