The Cumberland Valley Christian Blazers emerged from a tight battle with Grace Academy with a 48-47 victory Tuesday evening in a Mason Dixon Christian Conference boys basketball game.

“We had a rough game on Friday night,” Blazers coach Austin Sanders said of the team’s 80-38 loss at Heritage. “The message to our guys looking forward to this game was to start with better energy, compete on both sides of the ball, and put ourselves in a position to win. We did those things tonight and ended up executing winning plays when it mattered most. We had a couple of guys get into foul trouble early, but our bench guys filled their role and gave us good important minutes.”

The Blazers (2-5, 1-1 MDCC) trailed 12-9 at the end of the first period, but they rallied to go ahead 27-26 at the half after an 18-point second period. Senior Nathan Minnier scored 14 of the team’s 18 points in the period.

Grace held a 47-46 lead late in the game and was playing keep-away, but the Blazers forced a five-second call with less than a minute left. Senior Zach Mace then scored on a close-range shot to put the Blazers ahead for good.

Minnier scored a career-high 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting to lead the Blazers. He added five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a game-high three blocked shots.

“I feel like Nathan really stepped up as a leader tonight,” Sanders said. “Obviously, he scored well for us, but he was active on the defensive side as well.”

Mace added 12 points and tied Archer Munson for the team lead in rebounds with nine. Gage Brookens scored seven points, A. J. Sloan hit a 3-pointer, and Munson and Landon Kellogg added two points each.