Father Tolton led by as many as 24 points Friday against Hopkinsville, Ky.
The Trailblazers were fortunate for that wide margin as they had to hold off the hard-charging Tigers for a 68-65 victory in the loser's bracket semifinals of the Joe Machens Great 8 Classic at Fleming Fieldhouse.
Already up 34-25 at halftime, Father Tolton scored 13 points in the first 2:35 of the third quarter to lead by 20.
A Coban Porter 3-pointer from the right wing with 3:14 left in the quarter made it 56-32, the largest margin of the game.
Hopkinsville cut it to 15 with 6:21 left after a Jacarius Burks dunk.
James Nicholas pulled the Tigers within single digits with one of his four 3-pointers at the 3:24 mark.
Nate Schwartze and Porter followed with layups to get the lead back to 12, but the Tigers cane back to make it 65-60 with 1:20 remaining.
But the clock quickly became the Tigers' enemy.
It was 67-61 with :35.8 left and 68-63 with just :09.6 on the clock.
Don Victor scored the last basket of the game with just :01.2 remaining.
Nicholas paced Hopkinsville with 20 points. Burks added 13 points and pulled down a game-high eight rebounds.
Schwartze led Father Tolton with 18 points, making 6-of-8 from the field.
Porter scored 16 points and Deuce Tatum added 13 points.
The Trailblazers will face Blair Oaks (6-4) at 4 p.m. today in the fifth-place game.
Hopkinsville and Helias will play at 2:30 p.m. in the seventh-place game.