MONTGOMERY — Early on, it seemed as if Tuscaloosa Academy could do no wrong.

Later, the roles were reversed and a 17-point lead evaporated, leaving the Knights clinging to a lead they never surrendered to advance to the Alabama Independent School Association Class AAA championship game with a 44-43 victory over Lee-Scott Academy on Saturday afternoon in the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl.

Tuscaloosa Academy (18-8) will play Lakeside (25-6) for the state championship on Monday at 7 p.m.

“Every year it’s a different team, different players,” said junior guard Hadrian McNeil, who had 17 points. “The point of the plan is to win a state championship. We just have to come together, play together, be a team, do it for your family, do it for God. Just ball out.

“They’ve beaten us the last two or three times we’ve played them. At some point in time, you have to step up and be a man and play hard. Do it for your team, do it for your school.”

Lee-Scott (20-10) had the upper hand in meetings between the two this season, including a 60-43 win over the Knights a week earlier in the region tournament on the same floor. But no one could have foreseen what transpired in the first half on Saturday as TA hit 75 percent of its shots (12 of 16) to storm out to a 22-5 lead before settling for a 28-11 halftime lead.

A key factor early was the return of Jamarques Darien, sidelined for seven games with a broken foot. He entered the game with 3:55 remaining in the first quarter and contributed seven quick points, playing for 22 of the 32 minutes and finishing with seven points.

“Jamarques is a great teammate and a great player,” McNeil said. “He helps us to be more fundamentally sound. He’s a role model, a leader, who helps us to know what to do, when to do it.”

And later in the game, as he limped noticeably as the pain in his right foot increased, TA coach Barry Sanderson would spell him defensively and put him back on the floor to help the offense.

“Jamarques makes me a better coach,” Sanderson said. “I learned real fast growing up in a coaching family that great players make you a better coach. He gives us a calming influence on the floor. We made some adjustments (from the last meeting) in our zone and I think it caught them off guard. Now give them credit, they made some adjustments at halftime and we were just one point better today.”

The comfortable lead evaporated in the third quarter as TA scored a field goal on just one of its 15 third-quarter possessions, allowing the Warriors to cut the lead to a point on two occasions, the final time coming with two-tenths of a second left on a pair of Jacob Carson free throws.

“We knew they’d make a run,” Sanderson said. “But the lead held up. Those guys have got great shooters and when you can make 3s, being up 18 or 19 can go to single digits fast. But the later it got in the game, those 3s are harder to make and I thought our defense held up at the end.”

Enough to propel a team into the state finals.

“When I took the job, they said, ‘Coach it’s going to be difficult because most of the players left,’” Sanderson said. “We had some tough breaks early, played a tough schedule, but I think it prepared us. And then we learned how to play without Jamarques for eight or nine games and then him coming back is huge. You want to be playing your best basketball at the end of the year and I think we are.”