Florence’s Jalen Chandler went to three straight tournaments, winning ta pair of 1A state titles, in his three seasons at Covenant Christian and is now making a fourth consecutive trip as the Falcons pulled away for a 64-53 victory over No. 9 Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa in Tuesday’s Class 7A Northwest Regional final at Wallace State’s Traditions Bank Arena.

“It’s really a blessing,” Chandler said. “It’s a fun experience and a lot of people don’t get to experience that. Only four teams out of each classification get to experience it. It really is a blessing.”

Florence (24-7) held a 2-point lead to open the second half and immediately engaged in a back-and-forth battle to a 32-all tie at the 6:19 mark of the third period. Jullian King broke the stalemate and sparked a 9-1 run that saw the Falcons build a 41-33 lead inside the final two minutes of the quarter.

Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa’s Jacob Williams knocked down back-to-back shots to end the period, but Bryant James matched the scoring to maintain Florence’s 8-point advantage at the end of the third.

King pushed the lead to double digits to open the final stanza and the Patriots could only trim the deficit back low as eight points in the first minute of the quarter. Jalen Chandler converted an old-fashioned 3-point play and Jamarrion Reeder added a layup to power the Falcons to a 53-39 lead early in the fourth.

A 3-point play by Paul Jones cut the lead down to 10 points with 1:17 remaining, but James and Jayshod Pearson combined to go 4-of-4 at the line and clinch the first region final win in program history for the Falcons.

Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa (25-8) rallied for 14-11 lead in the opening period, fueled by Jones, but an 8-0 run late in the second quarter gave the Falcons a 7-point advantage with 3:30 left in the first half. The Patriots closed out the period on an 8-1 run to pull within a bucket at the halftime break.

Did you know? Florence advanced to the first state tournament in program history in its inaugural regional final appearance.

By the numbers: The Falcons shot 52.4 percent overall and 30.8 percent from beyond the arc, and owned the glass with a plus-17 edge in rebounding. Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa was 51.2 percent from the field and had a plus-8 advantage on interior scoring.

“The game plan is always to keep them off the board,” Chandler said. “They got a set offense and get an offensive e rebound once in every three shots. Coach stayed on me, keep getting rebounds and be active on the boards. That’s what I did.”

Stat sheet: Florence – James finished with a game-high 18 points and added 3 rebounds and 3 assists. Chandler posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and had 7 assists, 3 blocks and 3 steals. Jayshod Pearson had 10 points and 4 rebounds, and Jamarrion Reeder had 9 points and 2 rebounds. Jullian King contributed 7 points, followed by Jaylen Blackwell with 6 points and 6 rebounds. Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa – Osa Alohan had a team-high 17 points, and Paul Jones finished with 13 points. Jakari Andrews added 10 points, and Jacob Williams had 6 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

All-Tournament Team: Bryant James was named region MVP and teammates Jamarrion Reeder and Jalen Chandler were selected to the all-region team, along with Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa’s Osa Alohan and Paul Jones, and James Clemens’ London Towson.

Coachspeak: “Really hard-fought game. We didn’t play our best in the first half but we came out and executed some stuff in the half court and made some winning plays. We were blue collar, came up with some big stops and we had some guys step up and make some big-time plays. When you play at this time of the year, you got to step up and make big-time plays.” — Florence’s Dylan Burleson

“It’s tough when you lose your last game, but I’m tickled by these guys going 11-0 to start the year, winning Thanksgiving tournament and beating Enterprise and Fairfield in the same day, and winning the area and area tournament. Getting to the elite eight is not bad in the first year in 7A. Proud of these guys.” — Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa’s Scott Suttles

They said it: “You really have to have a mindset that it’s in you. It’s in me. You have to be tough and you have to want it really, really bad. And I want it really, really bad.” — Jamarrion Reeder

“This morning at shoot around, our coaches were telling us to be thankful because not everybody gets the chance to play for an opportunity to go to a final four. We’re all really thankful.” — Bryant James

What’s next? Florence will face either Daphne or No. 5 Fairhope in a Class 7A state semifinal at 10:30 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 27, at the BJCC’s Legacy Arena in Birmingham.