Central boys’ basketball coach Rick Rogers turned to his bench in the third quarter and stated the obvious.
“We’re turning it over and they’re not,” he said, “and we’re down by five.”
So with a look to point guard Terron Hayes, the Purple Pounders changed their defense — and the game, leading to a 60-59 win over top-seeded Brainerd in the District 6-AA tournament final played at Red Bank.
Both teams will host Region 3-AA quarterfinals Tuesday night.
“We had stuff in our game plan that we hadn’t used against them all season,” Rogers said. “When we got down five, we had to change then or never. That was the difference — doing something that they hadn’t seen.”