Grace Christian Academy used its hot three-point shooting to build an early lead and hold off a rally by the Bethesda Christian Lions in the second half to take a 64-52 victory in Thursday’s TAPPS 2A state championship.
Bethesda’s Hanson Allen, who scored 26 points in Wednesday’s state semifinal game, was called for two offensive fouls in the first two and a half minutes of the game and went to the bench with Grace leading 7-3. The Eagles then opened up a 35-24 halftime lead.
Grace hit seven three-point shots in the first half and 13 in the game. Bethesda made seven thee-point shots in the game.
Bethesda senior Kevin Thornton almost single-handedly brought the Lions back from the double digit deficit. Thornton, who led all players with 23 points in the game, scored 12 points in the first 5:25 of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 42-37.
However a pair of three-pointers helped the Eagles make an 8-0 run in 1:26 to push the lead back to double digits.
Each team scored 29 points in the second half as Bethesda was unable to pull even after falling behind in the face-paced first quarter.
Bethesda’s Thornton, Allen and Christian Blackwell were all named to the 2A All Tournament team.
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