By Staff Reports (Photo by Kristy Gallagher)

 BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Defending Class 3A state champion Plainview missed the first eight 3-point shots attempted Tuesday in its boys’ semifinal battle with Prattville Christian at the BJCC Legacy Center.

They made up it the rest of the way, sinking 15 treys in  the Bears’ next 26 3-point attempts, and beat Prattville Christian 74-55 to claim a berth in the Class 3A state finals for the third straight year.

Plainview (32-4) will face Westminster Christian (27-4), which will be making its third state championship game appearance since 2017, in the 97th AHSAA State Basketball Championships Class 3A boys finals Friday at the Legacy Arena at 2:15 p.m.

Five different Bears made at least two treys Tuesday’s semifinals.  Senior Koby Tinker was 4-of-11 and junior Tristan Willingham was 4-of-6. Cole Millican sank three, Taylor Haymon and Haden White, two each. Tinker finished with 20 points and seven rebounds, Willingham had 17 points, Cole Millican and Haymon had 10 points each for Plainview.  The Bears now have 458 treys as a team this season in 1,235 attempts. That total ranks second all-time in the AHSAA Record Book behind the Bears’ 467-of-1,288 effort last season. Tinker has 119 on the year.

Prattville Christian (30-4), coached by Jason Roberson, got strong efforts from Cooper Meadows and B.J. Comer , who had 24 and 23 points, respectively. The Panthers were 7-of-20 from the 3-point arc with Meadows sinking four and Comer three. Each also had six rebounds.

Roberson also coached Prattville Christian’s girls in the semifinal game just prior to the boys, making him one of only a handful of coaches to lead boys’ and girls’ teams to the state tourney in the same year.

The AHSAA State Basketball Championships continue Tuesday with the Class 4A girls’ and boys’ semifinals. Classes 5A and 6A play Wednesday and Class 7A semis will be Thursday morning. The remaining schedule will be the state finals.

All semifinal games are being live-streamed over the NFHS Network’s subscriber-based program and broadcast over the AHSAA Radio Network. The finals will also be produced by the NFHS Network and AHSAA Radio Network with the live video also being shown over the Alabama Cable Network.