DANVILLE – Centennial's latest victory in the Battle of Champaign was hardly a thing of beauty, but the Chargers will gladly take winning points over style points. Especially with their postseason life at stake.

"Those Central-Centennial games, we'll take it any way we can with them," Chargers senior Jeff Johnson said.

The way the defending Class 3A state champions secured Friday night's 47-36 triumph – and the Danville Regional title that came with it – was hardly textbook Charger.

Top-seeded Centennial, which entered with a 28-game field goal percentage of 52.2, shot 18 of 56 (32.1 percent) in this defense-dominated clash. In the process, the Chargers misfired on more under-the-basket chip shots than they seemingly have in a month's worth of games.

"We had a bunch of them," Centennial coach Tim Lavin said. "It was an ugly game, and we knew it was going to be a grind-it-out thing. To our credit, we just kept plugging away."

No player had a more frustrating time getting his shots around the basket to fall than Rayvonte Rice. The Chargers guard, at times looking like he was performing a tipping drill, missed 14 of 18 attempts in the first three quarters. Despite going 7 of 22 for the game – and being the focal point of Central's box-and-one defense – the Drake-bound senior finished with a team-high 16 points.

"Rayvonte especially, he didn't give up," Lavin said.

The payoff for that persistence was another step in Centennial's quest to return to the state tournament. Centennial (28-1) will face Pontiac Regional champion Mahomet-Seymour (22-7) at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Centennial Sectional semifinals.

"It's a big relief," Johnson said. "This was definitely a scare. We knew it was going to be a challenge. But now we get sectionals on our home court, so we're feeling good about that."

That scare likely reached its height when back-to-back baskets by Isaiah Clasberry (game-high 17 points) and Joe Daniels pulled Central (13-15) within 37-33 with 3:17 left.

But a floater by Jimmie McDonald and field goal by Johnson after a scramble for the ball under the basket rebuilt the Charger lead to 41-33.

"We kept it close," Maroons coach Scott Davis said. "There were a couple of key possessions. We just didn't make shots."