Squaring off for the second-straight year, Brunswick and Cave Spring came into Saturday's state Group AA, Division 3 boys championship game knowing it was going to be a battle to the end. When it was all said and done, the Knights came away with a 54-43 victory to earn back-to-back state titles.

These same two teams met last year for the state crown and Cave Spring escaped with a thrilling 39-33 overtime win.

The Knights (25-4) would take a slim 13-11 lead after the opening eigth minutes. The Bulldogs (24-4) would battle back early in the second quarter to take an 18-17 lead with 4:54 on the clock. That would be the last time they would hold the advantage the rest of the way. A Clay Lacy three-pointer at the 4:10 mark gave Cave Spring a 20-18 lead. The Knights, behind six points from Josh Henderson and another trey from Lacy, would close out the quarter with a 12-0 run to take a 29-18 halftime advantage.

Brunswick would continue to battle in the third quarter, as they outscored Cave Spring 13-2, to tie the game at 31-31 on a Shaquille Jones basket with 50 seconds remaining. The Knights' lone basket of the quarter came from Henderson with 3:28 on the clock.

In the crucial fourth quarter, the Bulldogs would pull to within one, 34-33, on a basket by Javonte Green with 6:28 remaining. That would be as close as Brunswick would get, as Cave Spring would start to pull away to claim its second straight title with the 54-43 victory.

For the game, Cave Spring shot 53 percent (17-32) and Brunswick hit 35 percent of their shots (17-48).

Casey Walker led Brunswick with 20 points and Devonne Dugger added 10 points.

Clay Lacy led Cave Spring with a game-high 21 points. Josh Henderson finished with eight points.