DUNLAP, Tenn. - Through a season of tough losses, Notre Dame's boys' basketball team continued to believe in the process coach J.P. Nerbun kept preaching. Despite a gut-wrenching eight single-digit losses, the Fighting Irish bought in that their hard work would eventually pay off.
Thursday night, the Irish put the frustration of the regular season behind them and cashed in on the process, upsetting top-seeded Chattanooga Christian 65-52 in the District 7-AA semifinals.
"This win has been three-plus months in the making," Nerbun said. "We've been through a lot of tough losses, and I mean a lot. But after every one of those tough losses, the kids would come back to work the next day.
"Their effort and attitude was consistently where we needed it all season, and I've really seen the improvement in the last couple of weeks."
Notre Dame, which came into the tournament as the fourth seed, will face second-seeded Sequatchie County in Saturday's final. The host Indians beat rival Bledsoe County 61-45 in Thursday's nightcap. CCS will play Bledsoe County in the consolation game, also on Saturday.
The Irish, winners of four of their past five games to improve to 8-18 this season, looked more like the higher seed from the beginning, jumping out to an eight-point lead after the first quarter.
Notre Dame extended its lead to 15 in the opening minutes of the second half, then held off a late CCS rally in the fourth quarter. The Chargers (24-3) never got closer than five after the first quarter and could only pull within seven twice in the second half before the Irish pushed the lead back to double digits.
"It's really not that we played badly, they just outplayed us all night," CCS coach Eddie Salter said. "They were ready to play. They shot well early, got some confidence and just kept coming.
"We've still got some life, so now we go back to regroup."
Notre Dame's C.J. Greer scored 14 of his game-high 28 points in the first quarter, then added nine in the fourth. Akil Sledge and Kolby McGowan added 13 and 11 points for the Irish.
Sequatchie County used a 21-9 fourth-quarter run to pull away from Bledsoe.
Tanner French led the Indians with 23 points, including six 3-pointers, while Jarrett Lynn and Noah Bartley added 15 and 12.