Providence Christian boys make TSSAA basketball tournament championship game in first trip to state

COOKEVILLE — Providence Christian Academy coach Kerry Hammonds threw up his fists as he walked off the court at Hooper Eblen Center.

Aiden Bolden raised his arms to energize PCA's large and rowdy student section.

There wasn't much else to say after the Lions, in their first state tournament, defeated Evangelical Christian School 54-40 on Friday to reach the Division II-A boys basketball state championship game.

"Yeah," Hammonds said, "it was a good day."

Bolden, a 6-foot-7 sophomore, came off the bench and scored a team-high 16 points for the Lions (29-4), who will face the winner of Friday’s other semifinal between Silverdale (30-3) and FACS (25-3) in Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. championship.

Bolden accepted a sixth-man role this season and has become a star.

"(Starting) is always the goal. But at the end of the day I just play my role,” Bolden said. “I had this conversation earlier (with Hammonds). He said, ‘You deserve to start, but I like the energy you bring off the bench.’ I said, ‘You’re the coach, you put me in the best position possible.’”

PCA is fueled by a big lineup and guidance from Hammonds, a former Siegel and MTSU star. The program has been a power this season but is still in its infancy. The Lions won just twice in Hammond’s first season in 2019-20, the program’s first varsity campaign.

Whoever the Lions face Saturday will need to account for Bolden, who was 6-of-12 from the field with seven rebounds and four steals. He scored a team-high 12 points in the second half to help the Lions pull away. 

That also included two thunderous dunks. 

Hammonds asked Bolden early in the year if he would accept the role. It was an easy conversation. “He’s just so selfless and team-oriented,” Hammonds said. "He’s (essentially) a starter. He’s an all-district, all-region guy."

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The Lions benefit because Bolden can come into the game for a guard or forward if there’s foul trouble. 

“I feel like that speaks volumes to our team,” said PCA’s Judson Bjornstad, who scored 12 points. “We’re all team-first, we all have the same goal and we showed it today. We don’t care who does what. Aiden might have 20. (Preston Wade, 13 points) might have 20. I might have 20.” 

Coming in later also gives Bolden an opportunity to figure out trends in the game. “I see what they do and it gets me ready to get in there,” he said. 

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ECS didn’t match that depth with just five players contributing significant minutes. 

“(Bolden) gives you that juice when you need it,” ECS coach Tim Wise said. “He would be starting on a lot of teams, public or private schools, I know that.”

Reach sports writer Tyler Palmateer at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, formerly Twitter, @tpalmateer83.