Corn "The Closer" Elder (Ensworth) went crazy nuts scoring 36 points leading Ensworth past MBA 73-62 and a spot in the DII/Class AA state championship game against McCallie tomorrow afternoon.
Elder was big, scoring off the dribble, netting four 3's, dropping several dimes and playing some sticky defense for the Tigers after playing sparingly in the first half with two fouls.
MBA held a 33-27 lead at the break behind 14 first half points from Austin Blackwell (MBA), but the second half return of Elder started the Ensworth push to the win.
Jojo Guerre (MBA) led the Big Red with 20 points while Blackwell finished with 16 markers.
McCallie 51
Briarcrest Christian 49
Cordell James (McCallie) nailed a trio of foul shots after a foul giving the Blue Tornadoes a 51-49 victory over a tough Briarcrest Christian squad.
Chad Lee (McCallie), who finished with a game high 19 points, tipped in an errant shot knotting the score at 48 with .35 seconds remaining on the clock.
Chris Jones (Briarcrest Christian), who led the Saints with 16 points, made the front end of a 1 and 1 opportunity before James connected on his charity tosses.
The game featured a solid battle of two of the state's best young post players, Austin Nichols (Briarcrest Christian) and Terrence O'Donahue (McCallie).
Nichols finished with 12 points and O'Donahue netted eight.
