It's all about the rematch for the Mater Dei Knights.
Facing the host Hornets for a second time this season, the Knights prevailed again Tuesday night at the Nashville Invitational Tourney with a 42-36 victory.
Mater Dei (11-8) will face Waterloo Gibault (16-3) in a semifinal on Friday. The Hawks beat Wesclin 63-42 in Tuesday's other first-round game.
Mater Dei 42, Nashville 36
After building a 13-point halftime lead, the Knights missed 13 of their first 14 shots in the second half and eventually saw Nashville draw even at 36 on Devin Holle's tip-in with 3:30 to play.
"We knew they (Nashville) were going to come at us in the second half and they did," said Mater Dei coach Brian Perkes, whose team defeated Nashville 46-43 earlier this season in the Knights' holiday tournament. We did just enough right at the end to hang on."
Adam Etter -- who led Mater Dei with 18 points -- scored on a driving layup with 2:06 remaining to put the Knights ahead 38-36 and after the Hornets missed a shot, Zach Deiters hit two free throws with 1:40 left and added two more 26 seconds later to account for the final margin.
"We gathered ourselves just in time to hit some free throws," said Perkes. "I thought we showed some moxie at the end."
Freshman Royce Newman led the Hornets with 16 points, half of them coming in the third quarter.
"They're a good ballclub. You've got to give them credit," Nashville coach Brad Weathers said of the Knights. "We really struggled to score against them.
"I was pleased with our effort the second half but the bottom line was the first half. Hoprefully we'll learn a lesson from this and move on."
Gibault 63, Wesclin 42
Mitch Meyer's basket with 2:18 left in the first quarter gave the Hawks a 9-7 lead and Gibault gradually pulled away from the Warriors (6-11).
"I didn;t think we played with a lot of energy early," said Gibault coach Dennis Rueter. "But I thought our depth made a difference."
Meyer led the Hawks with 18 points.
"He's a good shooter and it good to see him get going like that," said Rueter.
Jake Weiler added 11 points for Gibault.
Michael Klein scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Wesclin, which also received 11 points from Brady Kunz.
Wesclin will face Nashville at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in a consolation semjfinal.
