FLOWOOD — In short order Saturday night, a nightmare scenario unfolded for Porters Chapel Academy.

A strong pressure defense forced the youthful Eagles into quick shots, none of which seemed to fall. An athletic opponent swooped in to grab the misses, negating their advantage on the glass. Compounding those issues, a nearly flawless performance from the line by University Christian kept increasing the advantage.

By halftime, the outcome seemed a foregone conclusion. University Christian led by 12 at the break and pulled away in the second half to beat PCA 68-43 in the District 5-A tournament championship game.

“I really think we came out nervous. Scared,” PCA coach E.J. Creel said. “By the time they relaxed, the momentum was so much in their way that it would be hard to pull it back in.”

The silver lining for PCA (13-7) is that its season is not over. It had already advanced to the MAIS Class A South Central tournament, which begins Tuesday at University Christian. The Eagles will face the third-place team from District 8-A, whose tournament was delayed by weather and wasn’t expected to be completed until Monday.

No matter who their next opponent, the Eagles will need a better effort than the one they had Saturday if they’re to make more than a cameo appearance in the next round.

PCA was just 6-for-25 shooting from the field in the first half, and 14-for-52 (27 percent) in the game. Nearly all of its misses were from inside the lane. Normally, the Eagles are able to make up for so-so shooting with strong rebounding, but University Christian (19-6) matched them on the boards.

The Flames outrebounded PCA 24-22, taking advantage of the bad shots the Eagles took early to establish a presence down low. University Christian also pushed the pace on the defensive end, using a press for much of the first quarter. Although PCA only committed five turnovers in the period, it rushed a lot of its shots while trying to break the press.

“We wanted to put pressure on them. We’ve done that all year. All we tried to do was get a fast-paced game and get the style we wanted,” University Christian coach Josh Dorman said. “We didn’t want to get into a half-court, bang-it-out game. We weren’t going to try.”

The Flames started to pull away midway through the first quarter. Caleb Shuffelt and Stuart Cochran each hit a 3-pointer during a 17-4 run that gave UCS a 20-7 lead at the end of the period. PCA closed to within seven early in the second quarter, but an intentional foul on a made basket by K’Shun Evans led to a five-point swing and a 29-17 Flames lead at halftime.

PCA never really got close again. University Christian went 12-for-12 from the foul line in the third quarter — and hit 15 in a row at one point — to put it out of reach. The Flames took a 49-28 lead into the fourth quarter and cruised home. UCS was 25-for-30 from the line in the game.

“I preached to the kids that two or three games a year, you’re going to win or lose on free throws,” Dorman said. “They stroked them with confidence, and we were fortunate to hit those.”

Brandon Waltman scored nine of his 11 points from the line. Shuffelt led University Christian with 18 points, and Evans scored 16 points.

Kawayne Gaston scored 21 of his game-high 23 points in the second half for PCA, and Talbot Buys had 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.