The sweat was still beading off the face of Chattanooga Christian School coach Wes Moore moments after an instant classic in the boys’ semifinal round of the Times Free Press Best of Preps basketball tournament Friday night at Chattanooga State.
Moore’s Chargers had just gotten off the floor twice after near-knockouts to clip Tyner, 59-55, and the energetic coach was having to work to get actual sounds to come out of his exhausted throat. When the words started to flow, they told the story of a game that, while not pretty at times, had the overflow crowd on its feet for most of the final half.
“The guys just never gave up,” Moore said. “They showed a lot of guts tonight. We win a lot of games on the offensive end, but tonight it was our defense that won the game.
“They followed the game plan to perfection and did exactly what they were asked, but even if you do that you have to have the energy, and tonight they did that for 32 minutes. That’s all you can ask for.”
The Chargers (8-4) will face multitime tourney champion McCallie — which used a strong final 10 minutes to get past scrappy Notre Dame in the other semifinal, 52-42 — in Saturday’s 8:30 p.m. title game.
CCS trailed 26-15 with just more than three minutes left in the first half before Reid Conley led a 10-0 run to close it with the Chargers down just one. Conley, who had a game-high 20 points, had six points in the run and was part of a stout defense that forced eight second-quarter turnovers by the Rams.
“The key part of the game was the second quarter,” Moore said. “They came out with a lot of energy and made some shots, and we couldn’t make one. We got down nine or 11, and I kept telling our guys we had to just keep competing and the shots would start falling.
(READ MORE: Signal Mountain boys respond to opening loss at Best of Preps with win over Brainerd)
“We had so much energy heading into halftime, but give Tyner credit — heck, that’s a great basketball team — they came out in the second half and scored eight or nine in a row, and we go back down 12 right away.”
Tyner (7-2) scored the first 11 points of the third quarter, capped by a Kohl Ward 3-pointer, to go up 37-25, but again the Chargers responded, ending the period with a 16-2 surge that featured eight of Caiden Baldwin’s 19 points.
From there the teams exchanged the lead six times. The final one came on Conley’s floater for a 51-50 CCS lead with 2:43 left. Moments later, Holden Lyons nailed a 3 from the wing — his only points of the game — and the Chargers hit enough free throws in the final minute to seal it.
Ricky Harper had 13 points, Ward 11 and Rodney Henderson 10 to lead Tyner.
McCallie (12-1) had to rally from a rare deficit in defeating Notre Dame (3-13) for the third time this season, though it was the first of those meetings in which Fighting Irish star Cole McCormick suited up after breaking his wrist. Though McCormick played limited minutes a day after making his season debut, the senior’s presence lifted his teammates, especially guard Jace Herman, who had a game-high 19 points.
Herman’s drive with 2:39 left in the third quarter gave Notre Dame a 32-26 lead, capping a 7-0 run that included a McCormick 3-pointer.
However, a Will Kwasigroch driving layup started the game-turning McCallie rally. Kaleb Gallman followed with a 3-pointer, and after a Notre Dame free throw, he ended the quarter with a four-point play for a 35-33 Blue Tornado lead.
“I thought we were executing well, and we were getting good shots,” McCallie coach Steve Robison said. “We just weren’t hitting them. Sometimes when you don’t finish, it affects everything else. In the first half, we were just fighting ourselves, but I’m proud of them for coming back.”
The run continued in the fourth with a 11-2 streak that included two 3-pointers and a three-point play from Bryce Kennebrew for a 46-35 lead with less than four minutes to play. McCormick, who ended with 10 points, two blocks and two steals, had a strong drive and Herman hit a late 3, but once ahead, McCallie didn’t look back.
“It really wasn’t anything we changed, but we got a couple of stops, made a couple of good passes and finished,” Robison said. “Kaleb and Bryce hit a couple of 3s, and that was huge for us because any time you make shots, your defense automatically gets better.”
“I’m glad we’re not playing them any more,” Robison added with a laugh. “That was a good game, and we got a lot out of it. We haven’t been in a situation like that very often this season, so it was good for us.”
Gallman led McCallie with 13 points, with Parker Robison adding 11 and big man Kenneth Chime totaling 10 points, 17 rebounds and four blocked shots.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.