Third-ranked McGill-Toolen is one win away from returning to the final four.

Devin McCaine scored a game-high 25 points on a series of acrobatic layups as the Yellow Jackets rallied from a nine-point first-half deficit and held off Park Crossing 58-55 in the Class 6A South Regional semifinal Thursday at Garrett Coliseum in Montgomery.

McGill improved to 28-6 with its 18th straight victory.

“We played lights out defense today,” Jackets head coach Phillip Murphy said. “We weren’t great on offense, but we’ve really emphasized defense all year. In key playoff games, it’s not unusual to struggle scoring. This is 1-and-done basketball, and you have to find a way to win. Historically, we’ve been able to do that. It’s a three-game season now.”

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Park Crossing led throughout the first half and held a 30-26 advantage at the break. McGill took the lead for good with a 12-0 run midway through the third quarter. McCaine scored seven points in the spurt, and his layup with 2:20 left gave the Yellow Jackets a 40-34 advantage.

“We have been aggressive all year offensively, especially on the fast break, but I thought we were a little tentative in the first half,” Murphy said. “I told the guys at halftime that we had to be ourselves. We were able to get some lead passes to Devin, and he’s a great finisher. He made some timely buckets to get us going.”

McGill led by as many as eight, 50-42, in the fourth, but the Thunderbirds wouldn’t go away. Jayden Scott’s layup cut the lead to 56-55 in the final minute. Scott led Park Crossing with 16 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and five steals.

The Thunderbirds had a chance to take the lead after a McGill turnover but missed a layup. Jack Murphy scored on the other end for a 58-55 advantage. Park Crossing had two chances inside the final 20 seconds to tie the game, but Kelvin Graves missed an open 3 from the right side and, after the ball bounced out with 6.4 seconds left, the Thunderbirds couldn’t get off another shot before the clock expired.

“This feels great,” McCaine said. “We will celebrate for 24 hours and then get back to work on the next one. It’s great to get a win under your belt in the playoffs.”

The Yellow Jackets will play Blount or Pike Road in the Regional final at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday.

Star of the game: McCaine turned the game around in the second half. He finished 9-of-18 from the field and 6-of-9 from the free throw line.

Stat sheet: McGill-Toolen – Bennett Russ had 18 points, including a pair of key free throws in the final minute. Alex Heim had four rebounds, two assists and two steals. His steal in the final seconds of the third quarter thwarted a 2-on-1 Park Crossing fastbreak attempt which could have tied the game. Park Crossing – Braelon Markette had 13 points. Trevone Palmer had eight points, four rebounds and two steals. Caden Anderson-Teal had six points, four rebounds and three blocks.

By the numbers: Park Crossing held a 33-30 rebounding edge but committed 17 turnovers to McGill’s 12. The Yellow Jackets shot 43 percent from the field (22-of-51), 23.5 percent from 3-point range (4-of-17) and 71 percent from the foul line (10-of-14). Park Crossing shot 38.8 percent from the field (19-of-49), 35.7 percent from 3 (5-of-14) and 71 percent from the foul line (12-of-17).

They said it:

“The first half they got behind us for eight points on leak outs. We adjusted in the second half, kind of backed off our pressure just a bit and they didn’t get those runouts in the second half.” – Murphy.