FLOWOOD — It started innocently enough, with a couple of missed baskets on one end and some made shots on the other. It ended, a few minutes later, with another long, disappointing walk to the locker room for Porters Chapel Academy.

Heidelberg Academy outscored PCA 18-4 over the last 5½ minutes — after the Eagles had gotten within a point — and won 55-40 Saturday night in the consolation game of the MAIS Class A South Central tournament at University Christian.

Austin McCordle led Heidelberg (22-10) with 17 points and LaMarkus McDonald scored 14. Kawayne Gaston had 15 points and Ted Brisco 13 for PCA (14-9), which never led and lost for the third time in its last four postseason games.

Despite the losses, PCA still advanced to the Class A state tournament that begins Monday at Benton Academy. It will open against the North Central tournament champion, either Tri-County or Hebron Christian. The date and time of the game will be finalized today.

“I don’t think we were ever mentally in the game, even when we made our run,” PCA coach E.J. Creel said. “We’ve played three games in three days, and I think we were physically and mentally gone.”

Creel benched starters Gaston, Brisco and Peter Harris for the first four minutes for disciplinary reasons. Their absence helped Heidelberg jump out to an 11-2 lead against a second-tier lineup that included little-used backups Jacob Smithey and Justin McDaniel.

Still, they were able to keep things reasonably close and the regulars eventually cut the deficit to a single point, 37-36, with about six minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

Then, things quickly fell apart.

Talbot Buys missed a layup and Brisco a follow-up chance, leading to a 3-pointer on the other end by McCordle. On PCA’s next possession, Buys had his shot blocked by George Hilton under the goal and Heidelberg turned it into a transition layup by McDonald for a 42-36 lead with 5:06 to play.

Brisco hit a layup to break the run, but Cody Risher drilled a 3-pointer to make it 45-38 with 3:39 left. PCA never recovered. It went 2-for-8 from the field and committed three turnovers in the last six minutes as the Rebels steadily pulled away.

“We just got frustrated and stopped playing. That’s what I think happened,” Gaston said.

Creel agreed, but said it was only one of several factors.

“They slowed it down and we didn’t play great defense, and we missed shots. It was a combination of all of those things,” she said. “We got out hustled. Then when we made our run we didn’t do the right things to finish.”