CHIPPEWA TWP — Cole Charlton grinned over his mask when talking about his penchant for sinking strange free throws for the Freeport boys basketball team.

The one he made in crunch time late against Blackhawk in the WPIAL 4A playoffs Friday was perhaps the strangest — and most important of his career.

Even teammate Vinnie Clark laughed when Charlton described his knack for the high bounce off the back of the rim on his free throws.

“Shooter's touch,” Charlton said, smiling. “You ask Vinnie. I shoot foul shots with him in practice and it happens all the time.”

On this occasion, his high bounce and swish on the front end of a one-and-one tied the score at 64-64 with six seconds left. His second free throw — a more conventional make — gave the Yellowjackets a road 65-64 victory to set up a clash with top-seeded Belle Vernon Thursday in the next round.

The game marked Freeport's first playoff win in 12 years.

“I got up to the line and I wasn't stressing it,” Charlton said. “I just did my thing.”

Charlton helped Freeport (6-8) avoid a fourth-quarter collapse and survive.

The Yellowjackets led 56-44 with a little more than two minutes remaining, but watched that advantage dwindle thanks to a formidable Blackhawk press.

The Cougars forced a flurry of turnovers and converted them into points.

Blackhawk (6-7) eventually came all the way back and led 64-63 with six-plus seconds remaining after a basket by Ryan Jones, who was fouled on the play.

His free throw rattled off the rim and Charlton was there to grab it. On the way down, Charlton was fouled.

Blackhawk's lone lead of the second half lasted all of .02 seconds.

Ryan McClymonds forced up a shot at the buzzer for the Cougars, but it missed the mark, sending the Yellowjackets into celebration.

“(Freeport) coach (Wayne Greiser) has been preaching all week, 'New season. Zero-and-zero,” Charlton said. “This season has been hard, but we executed the plan we've been practicing all week and I couldn't be more proud.”

In the first two plus quarters, neither team led by more than four points — fitting for a game pitting the WPIAL Class 4A's No. 16 and No 17 seeds.

The evenly matched teams traded buckets until Freeport made the first real run, leading 40-32 late in the third quarter.

Clark helped the Yellowjackets increase that lead to double-digits in the fourth quarter, slashing to the rim and finding open teammates cutting to the hoop.

Clark finished with 18 points to lead Freeport.

Blackhawk had one run in it in the final two minutes.

“It's a game of runs,” Clark said. “Coach always preaches that. When they made their run, we stayed composed and left the past in the past. All we needed to do was hit our foul shots to win the game.”

Freeport did just that.

Zach Clark hit 3 of 4 from the line and Charlton and Jason Kijowski combined to go 4 of 4 down the stretch.

Blackhawk coach Brooks Roorback lamented his team's sluggish start, but lauded the Cougars furious rally.

“Our energy level on our home court wasn't where it needed to be in the playoffs in a home setting,” Roorback said. “But sometimes in the playoffs, things happened and we found ourself in a tough situation in the fourth.

“I'm extremely proud of our effort in the fourth quarter,” the coach added. “You couldn't have asked for anything more.”

It has been a challenging season for both teams under the cloud of COVID-19.

Freeport has had only 20 practices with its full team this season.

But, the Yellowjackets will get at least two more.

“They're resilient,” Greiser said. “They battled. We made mistakes, but so did they. We found a way to get the win. I'm proud of every single one of those guys. They gave everything they had. We could have folded and not even had a shot at the end, but Cole got that rebound and made that free throw that was deciding whether it wanted to go in or not. Now we'll go get ready for Belle Vernon.”

FREEPORT 65Ben Lane 3-8 3-4 9, Vinnie Clark 9-14 0-1 18, Conner Holloway 7-11 0-0 16, Cole Charlton 2-5 3-4 7, Jason Kijowski 2-6 2-5 7, Gavin Croney 2-3 0-0 5, Zach Clark 0-3 3-4 3, Dean Furer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-50 11-18 65.

BLACKHAWK 64Sean McCaster 2-9 2-4 8, Ryan McClymonds 7-19 3-4 19, Ryan Jones 9, Carson Heckathorn 7-20 1-1 15, Aiden Wolfgang 3-4 0-0 6, Zach Oliver 2-5 0-0 6, Zack Ours 0-0 1-2 1, Terrance Laster 0-0 0-0 0, Grant Wissner 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 24-67 10-16 64.Freeport 15 13 16 21 — 65Blackhawk13 14 12 25 — 643-point goals: Blackhawk 6 (McCaster 2, McClymonds 2, Oliver 2); Freeport 4 (Holloway 2, Kijowski, Croney)Thursday: Freeport at Belle Vernon, 6 p.m.