[BOXSCORE]
Christ the King (6-3; New York, NY) advanced to the championship game of the consolation bracket with a 52-49 victory over Westlake (8-5; Atlanta, GA).
In one of the closest games so far in this year’s BBC, the teams battled to 12 lead changes and 15 tied scores and neither team led by more than six points. After a first half that ended in a 27-27 tie, the teams continued to trade baskets with the score still tied at 44-44 with 5:59 to play. Christ the King took its largest lead of the game at 50-44 with 2:09 remaining when Tyson Walker’s layup capped six unanswered points.
Westlake answered with five straight points to close the gap to just one point on Chase Hunter’s layup with 1:13 to play. Tyson Clark was fouled and stepped to the line to connect on a pair of free throws to stretch the Christ the King lead to 52-39 with 17 seconds remaining. Following a timeout, Barry Christopher turned the ball over for Westlake but the Lions got one more chance when Jose Alvarado misfired on the free throw after being fouled. After yet another timeout by Westlake to set a final play, Alvarado stole Chuma Okeke’s inbounds pass to seal the victory.
Christ the King was led by a trio of players in double figures as Walker tallied 14 points, Kofi Cockburn scored 13 and Alvarado netted 11 points. Westlake was paced by Okeke’s 20 points and 11 rebounds.
