BOYD-BUCHANAN 56, ARTS & SCIENCES 54CSAS 17 13 15 9 - 54Boyd-Buchanan 6 18 14 18 - 56Arts & Sciences (54) - Moorer 3, Woods, Taylor 2, Chaison Gordon 18, Houston 6, O'Hara, Brown, Carter, Davenport 6, Nick Moore 19.Boyd-Buchanan (56) - Hall Allen 15, Justus McMillan 11, Cox, Austin Walker 17, Jenkins 2, Arendale, Jeremiah Nason 11, Clarke.3-point goals: CSAS 5 (Gordon 3, Moorer, Davenport); Boyd-Buchanan 5 (Allen 3, McMillan, Walker). Records: Boyd-Buchanan 24-7; CSAS 16-13.
Boyd-Buchanan point guard Hall Allen was held as he began to drive the lane in the closing seconds of Tuesday's first boys' semifinal in the Region 3-A high school basketball tournament at Sale Creek.
Then came the controversy that led to the Buccaneers' 56-54 victory, putting them in the championship game and ending the Patriots' season.
Boyd-Buchanan (24-7) will play Grace Academy for the region title Thursday at 7 p.m. Both teams will advance to Monday's state-sectional round.
The official scorer's table indicated Allen would be going to the free-throw line for a one-and-one with 2.9 seconds showing. Arts & Sciences coach Mark Dragoo protested, saying he asked and was told during the timeout Boyd-Buchanan had called with 7.4 seconds left that the Patriots had five team fouls in the second half.
"If they would've had five fouls, that would've been a great play," Boyd-Buchanan coach Cole Rose said. "We would've had to have run an inbound play with two and a half seconds left."
After officials talked it over with the official scorer, Allen was awarded a one-and-bonus situation and made both shots.
"Hall is definitely the guy we would've picked to be there in that situation," Rose said. "He stepped up and knocked them down."
CSAS (16-13) inbounded up to midcourt, where Shun Moorer missed a desperation heave from the left sideline.
"I looked up and the bonus sign was not on, on the scoreboard," Dragoo said. "It's supposed to be on when you have six fouls, because the next one is a one-and-one. We were told it was five fouls.
"But that was not the game. We had box-outs we missed, shots we didn't need to take, defensive assignments that didn't work. Yes, we lost by two points, but those two points could be found anywhere in the game."
Austin Walker's 17 points led the Bucs and Allen totaled 15. Justus McMillan and Jeremiah Nason each scored 11.
Nick Moore and Chaison Gordon scored 19 and 18 for the Patriots, who got out to a 15-4 start, led most of the game and were up 50-40 early in the fourth quarter.
Rose praised the defensive work in the second half by Nason and fellow reserve Colby Arendale on Moore and Gordon, who had a combined 24 points at halftime.