Porters Chapel Academy started the second half with a steal by Patrick Minor, who then dished the ball off to a teammate before grabbing it and throwing down a lay-up off the glass. As he ran back down the court, Minor put his hands up in the air and shrugged as if to say what he was doing was too easy.

For the Eagles, it almost was.

That sequence sparked a 16-2 run for Porters Chapel that emphatically sealed a 65-27 blowout win over Tensas Academy in the Red Carpet Classic Saturday at Vicksburg High School.

PCA outscored the Chiefs 21-6 in eight minutes to punctuate a dominant victory and take home a Red Carpet Classic trophy.

“We played good in the first half, but I think maybe our conditioning in the third quarter kind of came into play. We looked like we were a little bit better running up and down the floor on them,” Porters Chapel coach Wayne Lynch said. “We were just knocking our shots down and we boxed out well. We got a lot of good rebounds. First and second put-backs kind of helped too.”

Three PCA players hit the double-digit scoring mark, with Javontae Frye pacing all players with a game-high 22 points, five rebounds and five assists. Minor and Eric Jackson both put up 10 points.

“It’s good. We executed very well,” Lynch said. “We shot about 70 percent from the floor so we executed very well. We did good. They played extremely well.”

The Eagles ended their great quarter with a 50-21 lead before Lynch pulled his starters in the fourth quarter and a running clock was instituted. The Chiefs battled back from an early second-quarter deficit to climb within 14 at halftime, but that was as close as they could come.

“The first couple of minutes there in the first quarter we were kind of sluggish a little bit, but we picked it up there about four minutes to go there in the first quarter,” Lynch said. “We turned it on and started knocking some shots down. It was definitely a good game for us.”

Players and fans celebrated on the floor as Red Carpet Bowl committee chairman Gary Anderton presented the trophy to the team, and Lynch said he’s hoping this game will bring his squad a little momentum as it heads into the season’s home stretch.

“We’re playing good basketball right now,” Lynch said. We’re kind of hitting our stride at the right time.”