Jacksonville senior John Broom wanted the challenge of guarding Westminster junior star Chase McCarty in Friday night’s Class 4A title game.

“He’s a great player,” Broom said. “D1 on D1 is what everyone wanted to see. I wanted to give the crowd what they wanted.”

Broom certainly gave Jacksonville High School what it wanted.

The South Alabama signee scored 20 points and played tough defense on McCarty most of the night as the second-ranked Golden Eagles pulled away to beat No. 1 Westminster Christian 51-37 and claim a second consecutive state title.

“That was a battle of wills,” Jacksonville coach Tres Buzan said. “We knew it would be.”

Though it was the second straight title for the Golden Eagles, it was the first for Buzan. He took over the team this summer and had the challenge of defending a championship without star center Cade Phillips, who transferred to Link Academy in Missouri.

“I told our guys what we weren’t really the defending champions,” Buzan said. “We are a new team in pursuit of a championship.”

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Jacksonville (29-6) took the lead for good by scoring the final six points of the first half. The Golden Eagles led 24-21 at the break and bumped the margin to 28-21 on baskets by Cam Johnson and Broom to start the second half. They led 32-28 after three quarters.

A pair of Broom free throws and another by Johnson stretched the margin to 35-28 in the early moments of the final quarter. Westminster (29-4) didn’t get closer than five points the rest of the way. Broom finished the night – and his high school career – with a dunk at the buzzer.

“It feels amazing,” he said.

In the matchup of stars, Broom went 6-of-9 from the field and 8-of-9 from the free throw line. He had five rebounds, three steals and two assists. McCarty picked up two fouls in the first half and ultimately fouled out in the final minute. The Mr. Basketball candidate finished with 14 points and five rebounds. He was 5-of-14 from the field and 1-of-5 from 3-point range.

“He’s a good player. Kudos to him,” McCarty said of matchup up with Broom. “I just tried to play my game.”

Star of the game: Broom was the man on offense and defense for the Golden Eagles.

Stat sheet: Jacksonville – Caden Johnson scored 13 points. Devin Barksdale had 12. Cam Johnson led the team with six rebounds. Westminster – McCarty was the only Wildcat in double figures. Kaden Rickard had nine points and seven rebounds. Jackson Hammond had seven points and nine rebounds.

By the numbers: Jacksonville was 18-of-38 from the field (47 percent), 2-of-8 from 3-point range and 13-of-15 from the foul line. Westminster was 14-of-41 from the field, 1-of-12 from 3 and 8-of-12 from the foul line. The game was played at a slower pace with each team being credited with just two fastbreak points.

They said it:

“Last year’s team set the tone. They won the first one in school history. When I took the job, we had a team meeting, and the goal was to be right back here chasing another blue map. I’m blessed to have great guys. Great players make great coaches. We wanted to make our community and school proud, and I think we did that tonight.” – Buzan.

“I felt like the score of the game was more of a Westminster-type score. They are so well coached and so good at what they do. We have a lockerroom full of scorers, but we got after it on defense today, and that is what won us the game.” – Buzan.

“I thought we played really hard. I told our guys that in a game like this your best players have to play good – not great, but good – and someone who hasn’t played great needs to play a little bit better than normal. We didn’t have that tonight.” – Westminster coach Ronnie Stapler.

“For a long time tonight, we had a freshman, a sophomore and two juniors on the floor. This bunch – I wouldn’t be shocked if they were back down here last year. We have a good nucleus coming back and have some good young players as well.” – Stapler.