SPARKS — For the first five minutes of the Class 4A state championship game, Clark looked like a team that might get blown off the court. Bishop Manogue raced to a 12-2 lead, and the Chargers had just one field goal to show for their efforts.

But Clark responded with a gritty comeback, finally taking its first lead with 5:13 left in the fourth quarter and holding on to defeat the Miners 56-54 on Saturday at Spanish Springs High School.

The victory gave the Chargers (22-5) their first state title since 2016 and extended their winning streak to 15 games. Manogue (26-3), the North champion, had not lost in six weeks.

“I’ve said it all year. There’s something special about this group,” Clark coach Brent Rothman said. “They believe in each other more than they believe in themselves.”

After Manogue took a 41-40 lead into the fourth quarter, the game stayed tight. The Miners went up 44-42 early in the final period, but Clark power forward Devan Christion answered with a layup and two free throws on consecutive possessions to put the Chargers ahead 46-44 with 5:13 remaining. Clark never trailed again.

Manogue tied the game at 48-48 on a floater by Liam Sorensen with 3:51 to play, but Chargers guard CJ Edwards broke the deadlock with a corner 3-pointer with just over two minutes left. Clark held on from there.

“We have just been in those moments before,” Rothman said. “We’ve won some and lost some of those games, but we practice those situations every day and talk about valuing possessions.”

Christion, who is bound for the University of Akron, led Clark with 22 points. Edwards added 17. For Manogue, 6-foot-8 forwards Kade Snyder and Connor Sheridan paced the Miners with 25 and 13 points, respectively.

The Miners had seized control early, limiting Clark to one basket in the first five-plus minutes. Clark cut the lead to 14-10 after an 8-2 run and later trimmed it to 23-20 after a 3-pointer by Edwards, but Manogue took a 27-22 lead into halftime.

Rothman credited the program’s turnaround to a culture built over three years. “It really started three years ago when our staff took over the program,” he said. “It had been through some losing and then we got some kids that were sick of it. That team started this collective toughness and resiliency.”