Christian Heritage Beaten : College basketball: A bad second half finishes the Hawks’ bid for an NAIA tournament berth as they lose to Southern California College, 90-77.

Southern California College was preparing for another second-place finish in the NAIA District 3 basketball tournament, but Terry Scruggs and Bryan Moore had other ideas.

Scruggs and Moore sparked a 29-4 run late in the second half as the Vanguards defeated Christian Heritage, 90-77, in the District 3 championship game at Whittier College.

The Vanguards (25-8) qualified for the NAIA national tournament March 13-19 in Kansas City, Mo.

Midway through the second half, SCC appeared headed for its fourth district runner-up plaque in the past nine years. The Vanguards trailed Christian Heritage, 62-53, with 11 minutes 30 seconds left.

Then Scruggs and Moore took over.

Scruggs scored 15 of his 22 points, and Moore, a reserve averaging six points a game, had 11 of his 19 in the next 9:28. Scruggs’ two free throws with 1:59 remaining gave the Vanguards an 82-66 lead.

Moore and the Vanguards were grounded early. After building a 6-0 lead one minute into the game, they watched Christian Heritage make five consecutive three-pointers in a 17-0 run.

But in the second half, Christian Heritage made only 15 of 37 shots. The Vanguards, meanwhile, made 63% of their shots from the field and were 29 of 44 from the free-throw line. Christian Heritage made only one of three free-throws in the second half.

“They hit a lot of free throws at the end,” said Ray Slagle, Christian Heritage co-coach. “We expected to do two things coming in--not get in foul trouble and establish a transition game. But we got in foul trouble in the second half.”

Brad Soucie scored a game-high 27 points to lead Christian Heritage. John Mounce led SCC with 25 points.

Christian Heritage (29-6) will play host to The Master’s College Saturday in the first round of the National Christian College Athletic Assn. tournament. The winner will advance to the quarterfinals March 15-17 in Chattanooga, Tenn.