Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

In the third game of Saturday’s second day of high school men’s basketball at the Comets Christmas Classic, the South Stanly Rebel Bulls took on the College Prep and Leadership Academy (CPLA) Royals.

The Bulls opened with a quick run but the Royals responded and never trailed the rest of the way, earning a 49-44 win.

South opened the game with a 6-0 run, forcing an early Royals timeout with 5:39 left in the first quarter.

The Royals immediately responded with back-to-back 3-pointers. They scored the next 12 points of the game, eventually leading by three after one quarter, 12-9.

A CPLA 10-0 run to start the second forced a South timeout with 5:12 on the clock. The Royals outscored the Bulls 16-2 in the period and led at halftime 28-11.

CPLA extended the lead to 14 after three quarters, 37-23, but the Bulls got the game closer in the fourth. The Royals scored just two points in the first four-plus minutes of the period, and free throws at the 3:35 mark pulled South within eight, 39-31.

The Royals extended the lead back to double digits and held off a late South push to earn the win.

“We dug ourselves a hole there in the second quarter,” South head coach Sean Whitley said. “We scored the first six points, then we scored five points over the next 14 minutes. If you have 11 at halftime, I don’t care how well the other team played, you’re going to be down.”

Regarding the second half, Whitley said the Bulls “picked up our intensity…we did a better job of keeping them off the boards and we started executing a little bit on offense.”

South’s coach also said his team can take away the experience of playing against a team ranked third in the 1A West rankings.

“Seeing a team with their length and athleticism…we’re not going to see that kind of length in conference a lot, so just giving us confidence that we won the second half,” Whitley said. “We’re going to be able to compete with anybody left on our schedule.”

CPLA advances to Monday’s championship game versus North Stanly. The Comets prevailed in the other semifinal Saturday, 82-48, over West Stanly.

South Stanly will play in the third-place game Monday at 5 p.m. against the Colts.