Father Ryan, Ensworth will meet in DII championship

Father Ryan and Ensworth both survived tough semifinal games Friday afternoon and will meet at 8 p.m. Saturday for the DII-AA boys state basketball championship in Allen Arena at Lipscomb University.

Ryan (24-7) held off a late charge by Briarcrest Christian 41-37 in a hard-fought defensive game as Brendan Connolly once again led the Irish (24-7) with 18 points and 19 rebounds.

Briarcrest fought back to within one point and, even though the Irish hit a shaky 4-of-12 free throws in the closing minutes, never gave up the lead. Gerald Saltkill and Mark Mulloy scored eight and six points.

“It’s the biggest of our crowds I’ve ever seen, they really helped us and they were really loud,’’ Connolly said. “Our defense came up big again.’’

After Briarcrest closed it to 36-35, Connolly hit 2-of-4 free throws, and guard Jackson Coursey clinched it with a free throw with 3.8 seconds left for the final margin.

The Irish will play Ensworth (27-5) which fought past Memphis Evangelical 74-70 in the second semifinal behind guard Tavarres Jefferson’s game-high 26 points.

“On their press, I go long on a play we call “Danger’’ and that worked a couple of times,’’ Jefferson said. ‘’We’re looking forward to playing Ryan.’’

Ensworth built a 10-point lead, but saw ECS rally to eventually tie the game 67-67 with two minutes left. But two free throws by Jacob Carter with 1:31 gave the Tigers the lead for good. Jefferson clinched it by drilling 4-of-4 free throws in the final 18 seconds. Jefferson then picked up a loose ball in the lane with 10 seconds left, raced up-court and dribbled out the clock.

“I’m very proud of our guys, especially the ones who came off the bench and gave us a lift,’’ said Coach Ricky Bowers. “They (ECS) are really good.’’

Gary Pope and Richard Bowers added 13 and 12.

Ensworth is 1-1 with Ryan this season. Ensworth won during the season, then the Irish turned the tables in the region finals.

Ensworth goes for two championships Saturday. The defending champ Ensworth girls won their semifinal game Thursday and play Knox Webb for that championship at 6 p.m.