AUSTIN — Brook Hill started strong, struggled in the middle, but finished with authority and now the Guard are in the TAPPS 4A quarterfinals.

The Guard defeated higher seed Austin St. Dominic Savio Catholic School 70-64 in overtime Tuesday at Savio Catholic. The win moves the Guard (18-14) into the quarterfinals Saturday against Fort Worth Southwest Christian.

“I am so proud of how the boys just found a way to win,” Guard coach Jacob Agnew said about Brook Hill, which built a 16-point lead early, but needed overtime to finish off Savio Catholic.

“It was a crazy game to say the least.”

Ryan Cox led the way for Brook Hill with 21 points with the Guard also receiving double-figure scoring from Reid Hill (14) Bryant Robinson (11) and Alec Kitt.

The Guard made the trip to Austin full of confidence, following their first-round win over Midland Christian, and it was on display in the opening period against Savio Catholic. The Guard raced out to a 15-7 lead in the first quarter and pushed that advantage to as high as 16 points in the second quarter.

But then the shots stopped falling and the Guard’s lead diminished.

“We came out like I knew we could,” Agnew said. “And then the momentum changed in their favor and we got cold.”

Brook Hill still managed to hang on to a two-point lead at halftime but quickly found itself trailing in the third quarter and began the fourth down 41-36.

The Guard continued to plug away at their deficit, but still trailed 56-53 with time running out. Kitt made sure Brook Hill’s season was not over, draining a deep 3-pointer with five seconds remaining to ultimately tie the game up and send it to overtime.

Brook Hill stayed in the front foot in the extra session with Reid Hill draining one of his four treys in the game followed by a 3-pointer from McCray Fletcher.

It gave the Guard their biggest lead (62-56) since the first half and this time Brook Hill did not relinquish it, doing enough in the final minutes to maintain that six-point cushion on the way to a 70-64 victory.

Guard Stats

Brook Hill          15      12      9       20      14    —    70

Savio Catholic    7       18     16      15       8    —    64

Scoring (70): Ryan Cox 21, Reid Hill 14, Bryant Robinson 11, Alec Kitt 10, McCray Fletcher 8, Parker Galbraith 4, Colton Adams 2.

3-Pointers (7): Hill 4, Kitt 2, Fletcher.