Heritage Christian Academy is saving their best basketball for last as they upset No. 6 seed Somerset Christian 64-62 to advance to the KCAA State Tournament quarterfinals. HCA entered Tuesday’s play-in game as the No. 11 seed and had not won a game in the state tournament since 2014. The Warriors had also been swept by Somerset by double-digits during the regular season.
Heritage Christian used a quick start to build a 21-14 first quarter lead behind nine early points from Dalton Folz.
Somerset pulled to within 33-31 at halftime, and the second half was mostly a back-and-forth affair.
HCA took a 61-60 lead on four straight free throws by Rajah Mills and Gavin Fowler. After Somerset reclaimed the lead at 62-61, Fowler scored two of his 12 fourth quarter points to put the Warriors back up 63-62 with 3.7 seconds left.
Folz stole the inbounds pass, was fouled and hit one-of-two free throws for the final two-point margin.
Folz and Fowler each scored 17 points in the HCA win. Josh Jones came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers and finish with 13 points. Dakota Brake added nine points.
Somerset Christian, which lost a first round game for the third straight season, got 17 points from C.J. Rousch.
Heritage Christian will now advance to the KCAA state tournament quarterfinals where they will play Highlands Latin Friday at 9pm at Asbury University in Wilmore. The Warriors lost to Highlands 56-44 on Dec. 9 but traveled to Louisville on Jan. 20 and came away with a 58-50 win.