FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — The only thing that can truly take a scorer like Karsten Swinney out of the game might be the foul count. Sitting on four for the entire second half, Swinney was still in the game in the final seconds, and that gave Freedom Christian exactly what it needed in the clutch.

A pull up jumper rolled in with a little less than 20 seconds left, giving the Patriots a two-point lead in a back-and-forth affair with Northwood Temple on Wednesday night. Northwood Temple’s response was a driving layup by Kenny Vera, but it bounced out, and Swinney sank two more free throws to put the game to bed for the night, 94-90.

Swinney, who had three fouls in the first quarter alone, had 26 for Freedom Christian (13-8, 6-2), which has now won five straight games and is still in the thick of things in the Sandhills Conference race with Northwood Temple (15-7, 4-2), Trinity Christian, and Berean Baptist.

The game was high-scoring from the outset, with Freedom Christian leading 49-45 at halftime. The Patriots widened it to 73-66 at the end of the third quarter.

With 1:32 left, Freedom Christian was holding onto an 87-84 lead and at the line for two. Only one of the two connected, and Northwood Temple got an offensive board and old-fashioned three-point play from Kenny Vera to cut the lead down to 88-87.

Two more Freedom free throws made it 90-87, but Northwood Temple’s Jalen Harris hit a 3 to knot it up with less than 30 seconds to go. That set up Swinney’s heroics. He drove to his right, stopped on a dime near the baseline, and rose up for the 12-footer.

Freedom Christian’s five starters were its only scorers: Swinney with 26, Bryce West with 25, Cristian Sias with 21, Haidyn Bell with 17, and Jonas Lyons with five.

Northwood Temple’s five starters were also its only scorers: Elijah Kindle with 34, Vera with 26, Winston Waite with 14, Harris with 11, and Tyler Moore with five.