Independence, Mo. ? Veritas Christian built a 16-point halftime lead and held on Friday night in a 49-39 boys basketball victory over Center Place Restoration.

The Eagles took a 42-24 lead into the fourth quarter.

Thomas Bachert led the Eagles with 14 points. Nick Bennett added nine points, and Elijah Penny scored eight.

“The first three quarters we built a pretty good lead, and we withstood a comeback in the fourth quarter,” Veritas coach Gary Hammer said. “We kind of lost our intensity a little bit. … It was nice to get a win after we lost two in a row before we go down to Wichita.”

Veritas (13-8) will play in the KCAA state tournament in Wichita on Thursday through Saturday. The Eagles will play Topeka Cair Paravel at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Center Place girls 50, Veritas 43 (OT)

Veritas Christian relinquished a five-point fourth-quarter lead, then was shut out in overtime.

“We did a lot of things good for about 80 percent of the game,” Veritas assistant coach Doug Bennett said. “It’s hard to forget about the last 20 percent.”

Brittany Rask, Allison Dover and Kristen Finger scored 10 points apiece to lead the Eagles.

Veritas will play in the KCAA state tournament beginning Thursday in Wichita. The Eagles will open with Topeka Heritage.