Arts and Sciences’ Jonathan Kurz, No. 15, stretches to cut off the advance of Grace’s Stephen Record, No. 12, during Thursday’s game. The Chattanooga School for Arts and Sciences played against Grace Academy at CSAS on Thursday night for the Region 3-A tournament championship title.REGION 3-A CHAMPIONSHIPGRACE ACADEMY 43, ARTS & SCIENCES 40Arts & Sciences 10 14 9 7 — 40Grace Academy 10 10 9 14 — 43Arts & Sciences (40) — Brogden 5, O’Hare, Patrick Taylor 11, Kurtz 4, Chaison Gordon 12, Carter, Houston 3, Moore 5.Grace Academy (43) — Johnston 3, Record 7, Corey Nelson 16, Smith 7, Hernandez, Tisdale, Austin Powell 10.3-point goals: CSAS 3 (Gordon 2, Brogden); Grace 3 (Johnston, Record, Smith). Records: Grace 18-10; CSAS 11-15.All tournament: William Long (Lookout Valley); Jonathan Kurtz, Chaison Gordon, Patrick Taylor (CSAS); Corey Nelson, Josh Smith, Stephen Record, Austin Powell MVP (Grace Academy), Sheldon Hitchcock (Van Buren).
For more than 22 minutes Grace Academy — having struggled to make free throws, layups and even retain possession without turning the ball over — trailed upset-minded Arts & Sciences. But with the score tied and the clock ticking down under a minute to play, Corey Nelson did what senior go-to players do: He put his head down, dribbled past one defender and laid the ball high off the glass and in for the go-ahead basket.
Nelson’s layup, followed later by two free throws with eight seconds remaining, helped lift the Golden Eagles to a 43-40 victory over the host Patriots for the Region 3-A boys’ basketball championship.
“We got down and their pressure gave us trouble for a while,” said Nelson, who scored a game-high 18 points. “Earlier in the year when we would get down we had trouble coming back. But tonight we found a way, and I think that shows we have a toughness about us as a team now.”
Grace (18-10), which has won 10 straight games, will host Clarkrange (19-15) in a Class A sectional Monday at 7 p.m., while Arts & Sciences (11-15) must travel to third-ranked Friendship Christian (24-3). Only the winner of Monday’s games advance to the state tournament in two weeks.