DAPHNE, Alabama—A 5-2 run by Cottage Hill Christian in the first three minutes of the third quarter flipped the lead in their favor at Bayside Academy Monday. The Warriors then held on for a 56-46 Class 3A Area 1 tournament title win. Bayside led 23-19 at halftime, but were outscored 37-23 in the second half.

The No. 9 Bayside Admirals had swept all area opponents including Cottage Hill 2-0 in the regular season and had not lost to CHC in almost three years.

The Warrior’s Matthew Scelsi led all with 23 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks and teammate Jonathan Johnson added 12 points to help CHC improve to 17-11. Bayside fell to 23-8 as freshman Seth Matthews led with 18 points and typically double-digit scoring freshman starter Spencer Newman was held to eight. At the free-throw line, Bayside was 6-for-11, CHS scored on 22-of-35 attempts.

“We were outworked, out-defended, outplayed, outcoached, outcoached, outcoached,” said Bayside skipper Ralph Watson of his own and his team’s performance—particularly in the last two periods. “You got to play four—you have to play four full quarters. We knew they were coming, much improved since the season started, and they were ready. I should have had our guys ready and that’s on me. We just couldn’t find an answer in the second half. But we didn’t play all that well all night. When you got them in your own house you have to play better than that. You give up 37 points in a half you’re not doing something right. They killed us on second chances and we didn’t take advantage of the (unforced) turnovers they gave us, didn’t create enough turnovers ourselves and didn’t deliver the intense level of defense we usually do. We didn’t play well and it’s the wrong time of year for that.”

CHC coach Adam Thomas was proud of his players answering the Top-10, upset challenge on the road.

“I’m proud of these guys for playing this well under these conditions in the area title game” he said. “It all goes to my guys. They played an outstanding defensive game. And we’ve been struggling with free throws down the stretch, but we were able to capitalize tonight and that got us over the edge.”

Bayside had not allowed opponents more than 48 points since Jan. 1 in a loss to Gulf Shores. Before that the Admirals were 2-4 in such games, including a win over Gulf Shores. They are 9-1 in games in which they score 50 or more points.

All-Tournament selections were Johnson, Scelsi and Justin Kinder for CHC, Matthews and Newman for B.A., Josiah Nettles for W.S. Neal and Taylor Howard for T.R. Miller.

The sub-regional state playoffs start Thursday. Bayside will travel to play the winner of the 3A Area 2 tournament while CHC will host the Area 2 runner-up.