MIDDLETOWN — The Cinderella story continues for the Troy Christian Eagles.

Troy Christian outscored host Middletown Christian 15-2 in the final five minutes to claim a 74-61 win Friday night. The win gives Troy Christian a chance to go from worst (last season) to first (this season) in the Metro Buckeye Conference.

“At halftime, we were going ‘this is fun,’ ” Troy Christian coach Ray Zawadzki. “I think we shot seven 3s, they shot five. Both teams had shots falling in that first half. We emphasized the need to play defense in the second half, and when we did, they took advantage of us inside. Their posts knew what to do.

“At the end, we finally got control of our offense, we got a little margin and ... we’re shooting over 70 percent from the free-throw line, so if we can get to the line, then we feel very confident about what the results will be.”

Troy Christian hit 8-of-13 free throws in the final quarter to pull away for the win.

The Troy Christian win overshadowed a solid performance by Middletown Christian’s Zach Henderson, who scored a game-high 23 points.

“I love how our defense stepped up tonight,” said Henderson, a senior. “We just have to stick together and not lose our focus. When we lose our focus, that’s it. We played our hearts out tonight and I’m very proud of how hard everybody played.”

Zach Wise finished with 19 points and Jeff Hembree came off the bench to score 11 key first-half points for MCS (9-10, 6-5 MBC).

MCS coach Luke Gibson said the game came down to free throws and some late turnovers.

“We knew they would stall if they got a lead, so we fouled them. But we had some turnovers in some crucial times and their free throws really made the difference,” Gibson said.

Alec Lewis, Kelly Robinson and Marcus Miller were recognized during Senior Night festivities prior to Friday’s opening tip.

Luke Chafin led Troy Christian with 22 points, junior Jacob Grant scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half and Nathan Kirkpatrick finished with 16 points.

“Our focus this whole season has been to play solid defense,” Grant said. “And I think in the second half, that’s what we needed to do to win. We started playing together better as a team, and that made the difference.”

Chafin, a senior, said the team knew the importance of winning on the road.

“We knew coming into this game we could be playing Dayton Christian on Tuesday for the league championship — the first time Troy Christian would be playing for the title in school history — so we were ready. We came out slow on defense in the first half, but when we play as a team it’s going to be hard for teams to beat us.”

Troy Christian (13-6, 10-1 MBC) will play at Dayton Christian (13-6, 10-1) on Tuesday for the MBC title.

MCS closes out the regular season at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at home against Emmanuel Christian.