BROOKHAVEN — Adams County Christian School made a late run at Simpson Academy in the consolation round of the MAIS AAA State Tournament, but fell short.

A 12-1 run, led by senior Sneh Patel’s three, fourth-quarter 3-pointers, was not enough to hold off Simpson, which earned a seed in the overall state tournament with its 64-52 win Saturday night.

“I’m proud of them,” Adams County coach Richy Spears said. “To go through injuries … for players just to step up. That’s the way they’ve been for four years, you can’t ask for more than that as a coach.”

Simpson took an early lead, expanding a two-point lead in the first quarter to a 10-point lead at the end of the half. By the third quarter, Adams County was staring at a 13-point deficit.

Then its scoring run began.

Adams County cut the Simpson lead to 10 points at the six-minute mark with a Darius Demby layup off an assist from Brody Cole. Patel’s first 3-pointer came from the corner with 5:16 left in the game, his second, to cap off the scoring run, came with less that four minutes remaining.

Simpson’s Sam McWilliams answered with five points off of a 3-pointer and a quick steal and dash to the basket on an inbound pass, but Patel answered with his final 3-point bucket on the Rebels’ next possession. Following a pair of free throws from Andrew Ratcliff, Spears called a timeout with 2:25 remaining, down 54-50.

“We finally go the ball to the middle of the floor,” Spears said. “I knew if we got the ball to the middle, they would collapse on us. I told them to look out for the skip pass and find open shooters. A couple times we got that look and Sneh made some big shots.”

Simpson was able to ice the game from the free throw line. McWilliams hit 7-of-8 from the free throw line in the final quarter, and a three-point play from Brandon Cranford gave Simpson a 60-50 lead with under two minutes left.

“They’re well coached, I can’t take anything away from Simpson,” Spears said. “They’re a really good basketball team. There are some good kids on that team too.”

Devin Spear and Ratcliff lead the Adams County squad with 13 points and Patel finished with 12 points. Demby also broke into double digits for Adams County with 10 points.

McWilliams finished with a game-high 31 points for Simpson, and forward Brandon Crawford scored 20 points.

The group of seniors, playing their final game for Adams County on Saturday night, were freshmen in Spear’s first season as Adams County’s head basketball coach. The Rebels were a No. 4 seed in this year’s district tournament and made a run to win the title and a No. 1 seed in South State.

“It’s been a rollercoaster,” Spears said. “They work hard and they never quit. That’s a testament to them and their parents. They had a don’t die attitude.”