Staff report

SANFORD — The North Hills Christian School boys basketball team ended the season with a 59-58 loss at Lee Christian School on Thursday in the second round of the NCISAA 1A state playoffs.

Seeded sixth, North Hills had a first-round bye on Tuesday, while Lee Christian was blowing out Durham’s Cresset Academy.

North Hills had clobbered Lee Christian twice during the regular season, including a 109-69 stomping at North Hills, but Lee Christian (15-10) avenged those losses with a surprising performance combined with an off shooting night by North Hills (14-16).

North Hills got hot late and made four 3-pointers in the last 33 seconds for a frantic finish, but North Hills had to foul to stop the clock and Lee Christian made enough free throws to hang on.

North Hills got off to a shaky start and was down 9-0 before Champ Hayden got the Eagles on the board with a three-point play with 4:48 left in the first quarter. A mid-range jumper by Hayden got North Hills back to a 15-12 deficit at the end of the quarter.

A disciplined Lee Christian squad took a 30-23 lead to halftime and was able to expand the lead to 41-30 by the end of the third quarter.

North Hills was down by 14 — 55-41 — with 1:29 left, but the Eagles made a frantic push to get back into it.

Hayden scored 23 points and totaled over 900 for the season. Jerrod Drye made two of those late 3-pointers and scored 11. Malachi Strong had a solid rebounding game and scored 10. Zachary Strickland made two 3-pointers.

North Hills           12     11    7    28   — 58

Lee Christian      15      15    11   18    — 59

NORTH HILLS — Hayden 23, Drye 11, Strong 10, Strickland 6, Hawkins 6, Talbott 2.