Porters Chapel Academy has had wins that were bigger, cleaner, and more dominant. It hadn’t had any kind of win in almost a month, though, so even this ugly one left the Eagles grinning from ear to ear.

After they let most of a double-digit lead melt away, Patrick Minor hit a game-clinching free throw with 5.4 seconds remaining to give the Eagles a 33-29 victory over visiting Mt. Salus on Monday night.

It was PCA’s first win since Nov. 12 against Rebul Academy and snapped a four-game losing streak. It also avenged an 18-point loss to Mt. Salus on Nov. 13, all despite going 9-for-20 from the free throw line and 12-for-36 from the field.

“It feels great to get a win,” said Leon Simms, who led PCA with 11 points. “Even though we’ve been down a couple of games, coach has been working with us and told us the right thing. We practiced it, got into the game and it finally worked.”

Minor had nine points and 11 rebounds to lead a strong defensive effort for PCA (2-5), which had nearly a dozen steals as a team. It also did a good job limiting Mt. Salus (3-1) to one shot on the offensive end for most of the first half.

Mt. Salus only scored two points in the second quarter, on a jumper by Tyler Ingram with 49 seconds remaining. PCA led by eight points at halftime, and by as many as 11 in the third quarter.

“It all starts on the defensive end. They played really good defense. It led to fast-break points, and I’m proud of them. I’m proud of their effort,” PCA coach Stacey Sykes said. “We stayed in the 2-3 zone tonight and got a lot of passes they were trying to get inside to their tall guy, Luke Govero. Our plan was to deny him the ball and let somebody else beat us. They stuck to the game plan. It wasn’t exciting basketball, but it was effective basketball.”

PCA started getting careless with the basketball in the fourth quarter, and a flurry of turnovers allowed Mt. Salus to chip away at its deficit. Govero, who scored a game-high 18 points, hit two free throws with 31.3 seconds remaining to bring the visiting Eagles within three points at 32-29.

PCA missed three consecutive free throws down the stretch, but Mt. Salus countered by committing turnovers on three consecutive possessions.

Finally, Minor grabbed the rebound off a missed free throw by Jake Arias and split a pair of free throws to give PCA a 33-29 lead with 5.4 seconds left and seal the win.

“It was teamwork,” Simms said. “We haven’t been communicating lately or moving the ball around. Once we settled down and moved the ball around and worked with our teammates, we’ll be great.”