COPPELL, Texas -- Keller Central has never been mistaken for a school with dominant athletics programs.

The young school's accomplishments have been few and far between, but after the 2011-12 school year, the Chargers may be hanging more than their fair share of banners.

On the heels of the football team's first playoff berth in school history, the boys basketball team has put together not just a good year, but a great year.

The highlight of that year may have occurred Tuesday when the Chargers clinched the District 7-5A title with a 43-41 win over rival Coppell, and they did it on Coppell's home court.

"It's surreal," said Central head coach Kit Pehl of clinching district. "To get it done tonight on their floor is a big deal to us. Coppell to us is a measuring stick. To do it at their place, we're ecstatic."

To clinch its district title, Central (25-7, 11-1 in 7-5A) had to survive a game between two smash-mouth, half-court teams, as Pehl put it.

The Cowboys (22-8, 8-4 in 7-5A) held a lead for much of the second quarter but coughed it up when Central guard Zach Sanchez hit a 3-pointer late in third quarter to put the Chargers ahead, 35-33, going into the fourth.

The two teams stared each other down for the final eight minutes before missed free throws by Central and a bucket by point guard Warren Oishi put Coppell within striking distance.

On the final possession of the game, Coppell dished it to big man Jeff Raines inside, but his shot went wide of the net to give Central the win.

"It was a scramble," said Central forward Joel Bolomboy of the last play of the game. "We had to step up on defense. Everybody was crazy and scrambling, but we ended up getting it done."

In the anticipated matchup between two of the area's 5A leading scorers among forwards, Raines scored eight and Bolomboy had 10.

"They kind of negated each other," Pehl said.

Coppell, always one of the toughest defensive teams in the area under coach Brad Chasteen, also limited Central's other two stars -- point guard Warren Sledge (five points) and Joel Engulu (four points).

Central guard J.R. Rogers ended up filling the void, scoring a team-high 12 points.

"He was huge tonight," Pehl said. "He made tons of big shots. If there was an X-factor tonight, it was J.R. Rogers without question."

Just as it was the entire game, the two teams fought to a standstill in the first half as no team held a lead of more than the six Coppell led by briefly in the second quarter.

With its array of defensive looks, Coppell ran man defense after running nothing but zone in its first meeting with Central -- a 54-49 Chargers win. That allowed Central to employ the motion offense it's most comfortable with, but Coppell's physicality still limited the Chargers.

They finally broke through with a 7-0 run that began in the third quarter and ended in the fourth. It gave Central the lead to set up Coppell's final possession.

"I figured it would come down to a defensive stand and sure enough that's what happened," Pehl said.