The Fatima Comets aren’t messing around.
They’ve won 11 games in a row, and the biggest win during their streak has landed them back in the Joe Machens Great 8 Classic championship game.
Fatima made just one field goal in the final eight minutes, but the Comets scored 12 points at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter Thursday night to get past the Ensworth School, Tenn., Tigers for a 59-50 semifinal win at Fleming Fieldhouse.
“It was just 100 percent grit,” Fatima coach Ryan Robertson said. “We might only beat them two out of 10 times, but my gosh, these guys just play so hard.
“We always say, ‘Look down at the name on your chest with Fatima,’ and you can’t ask for kids to represent any better than that.”
Ensworth led for a majority of the first half, finding plenty of production from guards Nic Hyche and Louis O’Keefe.
O’Keefe scored 10 of his 13 points in the first half, while Hyche shot 6-of-11 from 3-point range to finish with a team-high 18 points to lead the Tigers.
“Those two guards, we knew they were great players, but their range and their ability to get in the lane, they were just a nightmare,” Robertson said.
Matthew Robertson and Levi Robinson combined to score all 17 points for Fatima in the first quarter, leaving the Comets trailing by three. O’Keefe scored on three drives to start the second quarter and Hyche knocked down a 3 from the right wing to give Ensworth its largest lead of the game at 29-19 with 5:13 to go before halftime.
Fatima answered with a 9-0 run, capped by a Max Stuecken 3 from the left wing on a kick-out pass from Easton Haslag, then Haslag made a 10-footer in the closing seconds to cut Ensworth’s halftime lead to 31-30.
“We liked where we were at, because they were shooting so well,” Ryan Robertson said. “Then we finally went to playing motion basketball. We tried to run too many sets in the first half, but motion is our identity.”
Stuecken made another 3 off a kick-out pass from Haslag, then Matthew Robertson followed with another 3 from the left corner off a pass from Robinson, tying the score at 38.
“The effort was amazing, but you still have to hit shots,” Ryan Robertson said.
Fatima trailed 46-45 after three quarters. Then, in the fourth quarter, the free-throw line became the Comets’ best friend.
Haslag was fouled twice in the opening minute of the fourth quarter and made all four free throws, giving Fatima a 49-46 lead.
“It was the motion, the cutting, the screening. It put them in switches that they didn’t like,” Robertson said. “Then we were able to attack.”
On the other end of the court, Ensworth shot just 2-of-11 from the field in the final eight minutes.
“And they didn’t get many second-chance shots either,” Robertson added. “Our guards came from everywhere tonight to rebound.”
In addition to Haslag, Logan Kliethermes made five free throws in the final quarter and Matthew Robertson also made three .
“Logan Kliethermes is an all-time Fatima player, as far as the effort and the grit,” Robertson said. “The plays he made, he’s a kid you love having on your team.”
The Comets finished 24-of-32 at the charity stripe.
Fatima led 54-48 with 1:45 remaining in the game. Up to that point, Ensworth had played turnover-free basketball in the fourth quarter.
The Comets changed that in a hurry, getting steals on back-to-back possessions. Haslag came up with the second steal and Ryan Robertson immediately called a timeout with :42.6 to play as the Comet bench erupted in celebration.
“They’re just out there diving and scratching,” Robertson said.
Fatima is the first team to advance to the Classic championship game in back-to-back seasons since Helias accomplished that feat in 2014-15.
“I’m so proud of those guys for their effort,” Robertson said. “… They don’t back down.”
Matthew Robertson finished with a game-high 19 points for the Comets.
“He’s the engine of our bus,” Ryan Robertson said. “We told him before the game we can get out and run against this team. Man, did he attack. Even if he wasn’t scoring, he was such a bully with the ball.”
Robinson had 16 points and nine rebounds, all while being guarded by three big post players, including Ensworth’s Ethan Utley, a 6-foot-4, 270-pound junior defensive tackle who has drawn interest from several Power Five football programs.
“That’s how good of a player he has turned into,” Robertson said of Robinson. “You don’t think he has scored that much, and yet he finished with 16. What was most effective was he could step outside and handle the ball against the bigs, which relieved pressure at times.”
Haslag reached double figures with 13 points -- shooting 9-of-10 at the free-throw line -- and also grabbed nine rebounds.
Ensworth (4-8) faces Evangel Christian, Ky., in the third-place game at 5:30 p.m. today.
Fatima (11-1), which is receiving votes in the Class 3 state rankings, will play Rogers, Ark., for the title at 7 p.m. today.
“You can win if you just play on adrenaline,” Robertson said. “I think there was a lot of that tonight.”