LEXINGTON — In a season filled with firsts, the Evangel Christian boys basketball team recorded another one Friday that will resonate throughout its home city.

Evangel Christian 57, Trinity 46.

Kyran Tilley scored 20 points and Christian Doerr added 19 points and five assists as Evangel Christian knocked off Trinity in a quarterfinal of the UK Healthcare Sweet 16 and claimed the unofficial season title of “Top Team in Louisville.”

“It’s big for our school,” said Larry Miller, coach at an Evangel Christian school with an enrollment of 37 students in grades 9-12. “We’re getting ready to start a new building, and I think it will attract students. That’s huge.”

A crowd of 10,492 at Rupp Arena saw No. 9-ranked Evangel Christian (31-6) — in the state tournament for the first time — advance to face No. 12 Harlan County (33-4) in Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. semifinal. A win would propel the Eagles into Saturday’s championship game at 7:30 p.m.

“It’s a great honor to play on the last day of the season, but it’s an even greater honor to play in the final game of the season,” Miller said. “I love our kids, and I like our chances.”

Trinity was 4-0 all time against Evangel, but the schools hadn’t met since 1994 — a 97-35 Shamrocks victory.

My, how things have changed.

Evangel jumped to early leads of 8-2 and 20-8 and never trailed Friday.

Trinity coach Bret Saxton said Evangel’s length disrupted his team’s offense and compared the Eagles to the defensive-minded University of Houston men’s basketball squad.

“It’s hard to simulate how physical and long and strong they are defensively on the perimeter,” Saxton said. “I think in the first quarter it kind of caught us off guard. We weren’t able to initiate any offense with any passes to the wings. We couldn’t get by that initial defender like I thought we might be able to. All the credit in the world to that team.”

Alex Johnson’s basket pulled the No. 6 Shamrocks (27-8) within 46-42 with 2:55 left, but they never got closer. Johnson led Trinity with 15 points.

Trinity’s hopes took a big blow at the 5:23 mark of the third quarter when senior guard Drae Vasser went out with a leg injury. He didn’t enter the game again but did return to the bench to cheer his teammates.

“The trainer told me … to sit it out,” Vasser said. “I wanted to get back out there and cheer the guys on. I know what they’re capable of, and I’m just glad they fought.”

Along with the scoring from Tilley and Doerr, Evangel got a solid outing from 6-foot-8 junior Ben Mukadi, who tallied six points and 11 rebounds.

Miller called it the best game of Mukadi’s career.

“We needed every point, and we needed every rebound,” Miller said.

Now it’s on to the state semifinals. Tilley said the Eagles won’t be overwhelmed by the moment.

“We’ve never been here before, so I feel like we don’t have anything to lose,” he said. “So we just go out and play our hardest.”

EVANGEL      12      16     14      15 – 57

TRINITY         8       14      12       12 – 46

Evangel Christian (31-6) – Isaiah Chitapa 5, Davier White 7, Ben Mukadi 6, Christian Doerr 19, Kyran Tilley 20.

Trinity (27-8) – Jayden Johnson 2, Alex Johnson 15, Julius Edmonds 6, Lance Chandler 4, Drae Vasser 8, Keriawn Berry 11.

More Sweet 16 coverage: Great Crossing, Lyon County, Harlan County advance to semifinals

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Follow on X @kyhighs.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: KHSAA Sweet 16: Evangel Christian defeats Trinity in quarterfinals