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The St. Bernard’s Crusaders are NorCal champs in boys basketball for the second time in four seasons after securing a hard-fought win over Redding Christian in Tuesday night’s championship game played at Shasta College in Redding.

And it was a case of third time’s the charm for the No. 3 seeds, who had lost twice in two matchups to the Lions earlier in the season.

This time around, however, the SB boys would not be denied, as they held on late for a 48-46 victory to beat the top-seeded Lions and end their 14-game winning streak.

A pair of clutch late Carson Costa 3-pointers saw the Crusaders over the line, as did their defense, and they held their opponents scoreless over the 1:42 of the game despite multiple opportunities for the Lions to try and add to their tally.

The game was tied 42-42 with five minutes remaining before Costa hit the first of his late 3s.

The Lions, however, would respond with a two-point field goal and a pair of clutch free throws to retake a slender lead.

But with just 44 seconds on the clock, Costa scored again from downtown and that would prove to be the final basket of the night.

The Lions retained possession down the stretch, but the St. Bernard’s defense held firm, retaking possession with two seconds remaining.

And after that there was no way back for the Redding boys.

Played in front of a packed house, both teams battled neck and neck all night with never more than four points separating them in the second half.

The Lions started the game fast and opened up a quick six-point advantage barely three minutes in, but a 7-0 run by the Crusaders quickly settled any nerves and the sides were tied 13-13 after the opening quarter.

Once again, Redding Christian started the second quarter the stronger of the two teams and held a five-point lead with 2:31 remaining in the half, but once again the Crusaders answered and they went on an 8-0 run to close out the second quarter, keyed by an inspirational four-point play by influential junior Liam Dyer.

That gave the Crusaders a three-point lead (24-21) at halftime, but it didn’t last.

A pair of big 3s by sophomore Micah Skinner early in the third put the Lions back up by three midway through the quarter, before a 6-0 run by the Crusaders — on back-to-back three-point plays by Tyler Hinrichs and Garret Shanahan — gave St. Bernard’s a three-point advantage.

And that’s kind of the way it went for the remainder of the game with both teams trading baskets.

A third Skinner 3 late in the period gave the Lions a 36-34 advantage heading into the fourth, and they stretched the lead to four with two free throws to start the period.

However, they were held to just six points over the final seven minutes of the game and finished the night with their second lowest points total since early January.

In addition to Costa’s late heroics, Hinrichs, Dyer, Shanahan and Prince Latimer each also had key baskets down the stretch, including quick back-to-back scores by Shanahan ad Latimer within seconds of each other to close the four-point deficit early in the fourth.

“It was a fun game,” St. Bernard’s head coach Issac Gildea said. “Extremely close.”

More to come on the game, including game stats and why it was an historic night for the Crusaders.