In the first game of the night, CSAT gave the top-seeded Tigers everything it had in the fourth quarter, but Amherst avenged its semifinal loss last year to the same team by pulling out a 53-48 victory.

In the nightcap, Health Sciences held a 15-point lead by the end of the first quarter and then a 20-point lead at halftime and never looked back en route to a 63-31 blowout win against Pioneer in the other semifinal.

Amherst (20-2) opened the fourth quarter of the first game with an 11-point lead after leading by as many as 13 during the third quarter, but CSAT (14-7) refused to go away. The Eagles opened the final quarter on an 11-2 run, with all the points coming from Nate Parker, to cut the deficit to two with under five minutes to play. Parker scored 14 of the Eagles’ 16 points in the fourth quarter.

However, like it has done all year, the Tigers came up with big shots when they needed them. After the Eagles had cut the margin to two, Amherst scored five straight points on a Josh Bugiera jumper and a 3-pointer from Ahmir Dunn that made it a 50-43 game.

After CSAT cut the deficit to three in the final minute, Bugiera came up big again, hitting a corner 3 with 22 seconds left to bring the lead up to 53-47 and allowing the Tigers to cruise from there.

“They gave us a good battle, it was a hard-fought game, but that’s just how our team’s been the whole year. We have that grit,” Bugiera said. “I can’t stress enough the trust I have in my teammates and the trust they have in me to hit that shot.”

On top of the big shots, the Tigers’ defense was huge early on. Amherst gave up just two points in the first quarter and adjusted to a change of pace in the game in the second half, going from slow to fast.

“We play team offense and team defense,” Amherst coach Chris Kensy said. “We don’t care who gets the credit for it. Any guy can make a play. We’re confident in each other.”

Bugiera led the Tigers with 11 points on the night, while Nick Moore added 10, including a pair of 3s. CSAT’s Parker was high scorer for the game with 20 points.

“We always say, he’s got the heart of a champion, he won’t let us lose,” CSAT coach Camilo Hoyos said.

Amherst, which extended its winning streak to 13, will go for its first sectional title since 2017.

In the late game, the Health Sciences Falcons scored the first five points of the night. Then, after a Pioneer score, they went on a 14-0 run, leading 19-2 a minute into the second quarter, putting them well on their way.

They led 28-8 at the half, capping off a strong first 16 minutes with a buzzer-beating Jimmie Green jumper as the teams headed into the locker rooms. Pioneer never got closer than 12 points. It was 36-24 at the end of the third quarter before Health Sciences outscored Pioneer 27-7 in the final eight minutes.

Green had a game-high 15 points, and the Falcons had 10 different players score. Pioneer’s high scorer was Kyle Stover, who had 10.

“We just knew that if we kept doing the same thing, we were going to end up with a victory,” Green said.

“We haven’t been shooting the ball well, even though we have a couple guys that can shoot it. Today was one of our best shooting nights,” Health Sciences coach Ty Parker said. “Tonight, the shots were falling for us and that gave us a lot of confidence.

“I tell them all the time, we don’t have a guy who will drop 30 points unless he’s hot. We have a lot of good players.”

Health Sciences will be going for its second sectional title in three years. The A2 final will be at Buffalo State on Saturday at 7 p.m.