Staff Photo by Angela Lewis
Chattanooga Christian School's Stephen Cook holds onto the ball on the way up to the goal as McMinn Central's Josh Moss guards in the game at CCS on Saturday.

With its comfortable halftime lead reduced to four points, Chattanooga Christian’s season could have come to an end against a hard-charging McMinn Central team in the second half of Saturday’s Region 3-AA boys’ basketball semifinal.

Instead, the Chargers came together.

Senior guards Mario Hill and Isaac Davenport combined to score 45 points as host CCS held on for a 63-50 victory and a spot in Tuesday’s semifinals.

“Our team has been playing together for a long time, and we know how each other responds,” Hill said. “We just kept our composure and kept playing hard. They’re always one of the toughest teams we play. We went up there and lost to them in the first round last year, so I guess it was payback time. This was tough, but we know the next round is going to be even tougher.”

After his team gave up the game’s first four points, CCS coach Jim Arnold called time out, and his players allowed McMinn Central just four more the rest of the period. Davenport sank one of his four 3-pointers at the first-quarter buzzer, and another with 3:30 left in the half sparked the Chargers to a 30-17 halftime lead.

“We made a couple of early adjustments,” Arnold said, “but even though we weren’t getting the results we wanted on offense at first, I really liked what we were doing on the defensive end. I feel like our guards can guard most players in the area, but our posts are small and they have two 6-5 kids, so it was really important for us to stay in front of them.”

McMinn Central’s first-half foul trouble continued in the third quarter, which included the team’s second technical, but the Chargers overcame the disparity at the free-throw line to get within 39-35 with 40 seconds left in the period.

Davenport scored before the quarter ended to provide CCS with some breathing room, and Hill scored four points to start the fourth quarter. Although the Chargers couldn’t match their first-half free-throw performance, they made enough foul shots in the final period to hold off McMinn Central’s run.

Hill finished 15-for-16 from the line, and CCS was 27-for-39, while McMinn Central made just two of its seven attempts. Rashard Sims finished with 21 rebounds for CCS (21-10).

“It’s unbelievable,” Arnold said of Sims’ effort. “He played his guts out tonight. When Rashard rebounds like that, we’re tough to beat. Stephen (Cook) is so good at getting the ball up the floor, and when we can get it from Rashard to Stephen to our finishers, and get them attacking the rim, good things are going to happen.”