CELINA, Tenn. — The last time Brandon Andrews came to Clay County High School, he was a Tennessee Temple freshman who could only watch from the bench as the Crusaders ended their season in the Class A state basketball sectionals.

For Monday’s return trip, Andrews and his teammates made sure their senior season didn’t end the same way.

The Region 3-A runner-up Crusaders earned their seventh trip to the state tournament in the past eight years with a 64-50 victory over 4-A champion Clay County, which had gone unbeaten at home all season.

“It feels like revenge from when we came up here the last time,” Andrews said. “That game came back in my mind, and I just said we’re not going to let it happen again.”

Three 3-pointers and some tough defense helped Temple build a 21-9 lead at the end of the first quarter before Clay County scored twice in the final 40 seconds.

With the Crusaders’ senior post Jarrod Johnson on the bench the entire second period with two fouls, the Bulldogs continued climbing their way back. They held Temple scoreless over a five-minute span before Dexter Petersen hit two free throws.

One of James Kemp’s five steals led to a Jeremy Sexton basket with 26.7 seconds left in the half and a 32-26 advantage for Temple, but two 3-pointers from Nolan Dale and five straight points from Scott Brown helped the Bulldogs take a three-point lead in the third quarter. A 3 from Andrews put the Crusaders back on top, and although Dale responded with one of his own, a basket from Johnson gave Temple the lead for good.

“We didn’t let it rattle us,” Andrews said. “We’re seniors and we know how to keep our composure. We just said let’s go play Temple basketball, and we got it back.”

Johnson’s basket started a 14-0 Temple run that spanned the 1:40 mark of the third quarter to the 4:47 mark of the fourth, when the Crusaders found Kemp open after a defensive rebound. By then Temple led 56-42, and after another Bulldog 3, the Kemp’s final steal resulted in a three-point play to seal the win with 1:28 remaining.

“When they made their run, they started hitting 3s and outrebounding us,” Temple coach Caleb Marcum said. “I said we had to contain them, and we had to rebound, and if we could do those two things, they wouldn’t score. Then we started getting stop after stop and converting on our end. That one streak was huge.”

On a night when the Crusaders’ Sexton was held to nine points, the Mr. Basketball finalist made six assists and had five crucial rebounds. Andrews finished with a game-high 21 points, while Kemp totaled 16 and Johnson had a double-double with 12 points and 12 boards.

“Jeremy makes the game a lot easier,” Andrews said. “Other teams focus on him, and that frees us up to make wide open shots. We just have to step up and knock them down.”

The Crusaders (26-5) now await the draw to determine who their first-round state opponent will be, and they look forward to bringing a more experienced team to Murfreesboro next week to improve on last year’s first-round exit.

“The hardest part is getting there,” Marcum said. “Now we can take a deep breath, because from now on, we know anything can happen.”

TENNESSEE TEMPLE 64, CLAY COUNTY 50

Temple 21 11 18 14 — 64

Clay 13 13 16 8 — 50

Tennessee Temple (64) — Petersen 2, James Kemp 16, Pendergrass, Sexton 9, Jarrod Johnson 12, Armour, Brandon Andrews 21, Reaves 1, Rudolph, Montgomery 3.

Clay County (50) — Boles 2, Knight 4, Nolan Dale 14, Adams, Scott Brown 10, Edwards, Korth 3, Dersham 2, Shawn Garrett 15, Lynn.

3-point goals: Temple 5 (Andrews 3, Montgomery, Kemp); Clay 6 (Dale 4, Brown, Korth) . Record: Temple 26-5.