Cas Boone remembers the matchups in the yard against his brother Pearce.

As expected with brothers sometimes, the pickup games got out of hand on more than one occasion.

“One time I slapped them on the back or something, and our mom made us write notes to each other, apologizing and stuff like that,” Cas laughed.

More than likely, either one or neither of the brothers left happy after a game of pickup basketball; on Friday, the two brothers saw their final high school game together end with a celebration like no other.

Class 2A No. 1 Providence Christian rolled past No. 3 Tuscaloosa Academy with a dominant 89-61 win to clinch the program’s first AHSAA state title behind the back of a 37-point performance from Pearce Boone.

Pearce finished the game 11-for-22 from the field and 7-for-14 from 3-point range after going 7-for-11 from the field in the first half; he also grabbed 12 rebounds to lead both teams.

The performance was a bit of a redemption for the junior, who shot 4-for-13 from the field and knocked down just one 3-pointer in the Eagles’ semifinal game against Decatur Heritage.

“I didn’t have a good game last game, so I knew to come in this game really confident and just wanted to win this game,” the 2A tournament MVP said. “So, that’s what I did.”

The victory marked the first AHSAA state title for Providence Christian, which finished the season at 30-2.

“First, is glory to God,” Providence Christian coach Mark Wright said. “What a blessing it is to be able to even be here, and we know we’re not promised results, but for these guys to be able to see the fruits of all the labor, all the work that’s been put in their selflessness, their willingness to sacrifice one another, today felt like a culmination game. It felt like everything that we’ve been working towards, we were able to put it together and play a big game, probably the best game we’ve played this year, obviously, at the right time.

“I’m so proud of what these guys have accomplished is just, more importantly, their selflessness, willingness to work for each other all year and the discipline and effort.”

When asked about Pearce’s dominant shooting performance in the win, the coach prided the player on applying what he was told before the game.

“I told him after the game, we’ve been pushing him to shoot more and take advantage of opportunities,” Wright said. “He just came out aggressive offensively from the start and when we saw some go down early, we saw his confidence continue to build.”

Tuscaloosa Academy, which finished the year at 21-2, was led on offense by a 21-point performance by Danilo Stojakovic.

“Obviously, this isn’t the feeling we want,” Knights coach Luke Hutcheson said. “It didn’t go our way. I thought that was a great team. I thought No. 12 played as good of a game as anybody could have played tonight; hats off that kid. It’s a tough feeling, but I couldn’t be more proud of them. They work hard every day, they love each other, they have great chemistry. I couldn’t be more proud of these guys.

“It’s not a good feeling, but it’s great to be here and we plan on being back.”

Stat sheet: Providence Christian — Cas Boone scored 13 points in the win, shooting 5-for-7 from the field and 3-for-4 from 3-point range. Luke Strickland and Henry Parsons scored 8 points each for the Eagles, with Strickland grabbing 4 rebounds and Parsons added 3 assists in the win; he was one of four players with three assists. Tuscaloosa Academy — Matthew Atkins scored 14 points and Ellis Hamiter added 10. Atkins and Mark Norris grabbed 7 rebounds each for the Knights and Stojakovic added 5, also dishing out 6 assists; Atkins and Hamiter had 4 assists each.

By the numbers: Providence Christian averaged 1.29 points per possession and Tuscaloosa Academy averaged 0.884. The Eagles outrebounded Tuscaloosa Academy 39-36 and outscored them in the pain 36-20. Providence scored 30 points off of fast breaks and logged 11 steals as a team; Tuscaloosa Academy had 7 combined steals and 15 assists.

Did you know? Providence Christian finished 30-2, also marking one of the highest win totals in the AHSAA for 2025.

Did you know 2? Tuscaloosa Academy senior star Danilo Stojakovic collected his 1,000th career point in Thursday’s Class 2A state championship game.

They said it: “It’s been my favorite team I’ve ever had. Year nine for me, it’s been my favorite; they’re just scrappy. They never back down from anybody, even tonight, you look up and we’re down, they’re still fighting. They’re fighters.” — Tuscaloosa Academy coach Luke Hutcheson on this year’s team.

“It’s been a great journey. I remember coach Rice said almost like the first practice of the season, when we started coming in from summer to get ready for the season. He was like, what does the future 2A state champion’s gym sound like in practice? I feel like that set the tone of how we just went about the whole season. It’s just been so great to be able to be a part of this. It’s not really even a team. I feel like we’re all brothers, like it’s all this fellowship, how connected we are and I couldn’t think of a better way to end.” — Providence Christian senior Luke Strickland on the season.

“If you contest him and you’ve got a hand in his face when he’s shooting, then I don’t know what else you can do. That’s too good of a team just to deny one player and allow the rest of them to go off, so you’ve got to put a hand up and hope your defense is good enough. Tonight, he just hits shots. He gets really tough shots all night. I was happy with our defense most of the time, but shots were going in. Like I said, hats off to 12. He played a great game.” — Tuscaloosa Academy coach Luke Hutcheson on Providence Christian’s Pearce Boone.