The Cumberland Valley Christian Blazers survived a six-point second quarter and rode sophomore Blaine Minnier’s 33-point outburst to a 59-53 victory at McConnellsburg Friday evening in a non-league boys basketball game.

Minnier scored in the 30s for the second time this year, drilling seven 3-pointers and going 8-for-10 from the line, three of those foul shots in the final minute with the game in doubt.

Sophomore Caleb Eckert scored 13 points, pulled down 11 rebounds and handed out eight assists.

“Our game was night and day from the game before (a 49-39 loss to Calvary Christian),” Blazers coach Austin Sanders said. “We came out ready to play early, and it set the tone for the rest of the game. Blaine had a huge game and Caleb was his dominant self on offense and rebounds.”

The Blazers (12-12), with Minnier scoring 10 points, led 20-12 at the end of the first quarter but fell behind 28-26 at halftime. They surged back ahead with another 20-point quarter and went up 46-41 going into the final period.

With the game tied at 51 late, Minnier popped in a 3-pointer to put the Blazers on top to stay. McConnellsburg got within 54-53, but Minnier made both ends of a 1-and-1 with just over 30 seconds left for a three-point margin. He converted another foul shot with 17 seconds left, and Eckert’s two foul shots with six seconds to play sealed it.

Also scoring for the Blazers were Nathan Statler with six points, Triston Horn with three, and Kenneth Hott and Isaac Kauffeldt with two apiece. Also, Minnier grabbed eight rebounds and Statler gathered in six.

The Blazers committed only eight turnovers and led 32-28 on the boards.

For the Spartans, Dominick Reed scored 21 points, Austin Johnson 15 and Walker Funk 11.

“It’s always nice to go into the weekend with a win,” said Sanders. “Now we are shifting our focus to the playoffs next week.”

Their opponent in Tuesday’s Mason-Dixon Christian Conference home playoff game will be Calvary, which hung a 10-point defeat on the Blazers Thursday night in Cresaptown, Md.

“We didn’t come out with enough energy and urgency in this game,” said Sanders, whose team fell behind early and trailed 25-19 at halftime and 39-27 at the end of three. “Calvary did a great job on defense, and they were able to hit some shots early that we weren’t able to recover from.”

Nobody broke into double-figure scoring for the Blazers. Eckert led with nine, while Kauffeldt and Horn had seven each, Minnier and Statler six each and Hott four.

The Blazers enter the MDCC playoffs as the No. 3 seed with an 8-6 league record. Calvary, the No. 6 seed, finished 4-10 in the league.

“With the playoffs nearing we will be focusing on defensive energy and being ready to go as soon as the ball is tipped,” Sanders said.