It was almost an instant replay from Monday night at Brainerd's High-Jackson Gymnasium as Tuesday's final game of the day was decided on a last-second shot.
It was determined on the opposite end of the court and it was a driving layup instead of a long 3, but Demetrius Kitchens made the biggest shot of his life at the buzzer to give Brainerd a come-from-ahead 63-62 victory over East Ridge in the boys' championship game of the District 6-AA basketball game.
It was Brainerd's first district tournament championship since 2009.
There was no such excitement at the end of the girls game as East Hamilton used a big third quarter to post a 48-35 victory over the Red Bank Lionettes. It was the second-straight 6-AA tournament title for the Lady Hurricanes.
East Hamilton will host Polk County on Friday while Red Bank will be at home to face Meigs County. On Saturday night, Brainerd's boys will entertain Meigs County while East Ridge will be at home to face McMinn Central.
East Hamilton girls 48, Red Bank 35: After a relatively-slow start by both teams where the score was tied at 17 when the first half ended, the Lady Hurricanes turned up the intensity in the third quarter.
Jessica Caudle and Airyelle Belle hit back-to-back 3s to start the second half and the difference was 24-17 following a free throw by Brynn Moon.
MiShannon Wilbanks, Red Bank's leading scorer all season who kept the Lionettes in contention with 11 points in the first half, sank two free throws at the 5:55 mark and added a drive from the wing 30 seconds later, but Red Bank had trouble matching East Hamilton's intensity.
"I think the difference was that we finally started hitting some shots in the second half and that gave us some momentum," said East Hamilton coach Derek Morris after his girls had improved to 21-8.
"Jessica Caudle hit a couple of 3s that were big, but I thought we played with a lot of heart. I'm fairly happy with our performance.
"I'm also proud of Tiffany Lewis, who scored her thousandth point tonight," Morris added.
Red Bank coach Brandon Crews could only watch from the sideline as the Lady Hurricanes pulled away in the second half.
"East Hamilton has a very good team and they played well tonight. My hat's off to them," Crews began.
"It seemed like they made the plays when they had to have them and we didn't. They also had a lot more 3s than we did, but they were hustling for those offensive rebounds and made those outside shots possible," he added.
Lewis scored 14 points to pace the Lady Hurricanes while Moon and Shay Scott were next with nine and eight points, respectively.
Wilbanks had another outstanding game and finished with 24 points. Shay Cooper and Autumn Babb were next with four points each.
East Hamilton also won the rebound battle, 36-27. Kendra Ivins only scored four points, but she made her presence felt with 10 rebounds. Caudle and Scott both grabbed six each.
Wilbanks had 10 rebounds for Red Bank while LaVaughsia Pittman and Cooper both snagged five apiece.
Brainerd boys 63, East Ridge 62: These two teams split during the regular season, but none of those games were as exciting as the third one.
The Pioneers have been successful shooting the long ball all season and they started out hot with three straight buckets from beyond the arc.
Another 3 by Chris Green allowed East Ridge to grab a 14-11 lead when the first quarter ended.
Brainerd's defensive intensity picked up in the second quarter and East Ridge's hot hands cooled off. The result was a 12-0 run to start the period which turned that three-point deficit into a 23-14 lead and eventually a 25-19 difference at intermission.
The Panthers really opened things up in the third quarter, scoring the first nine points for a seemingly-comfortable 34-19 lead with five minutes remaining.
Tshombe High hit a long 3 with 1:53 remaining to give Brainerd its biggest lead at 44-25 and that's when East Ridge started the slow climb back.
Brainerd's lead was 48-35 when the third quarter ended, but East Ridge scored 14 of the first 20 points in the final quarter to get within 53-49 on a free throw by Eric Traylor with 3:45 to play.
Traylor, who scored all seven of his points in that frantic fourth quarter, knotted the score at 56-all with 2:08 to play with a 3 from the corner.
A bucket from Jeulian High and two free throws from Kitchens gave Brainerd a 60-56 lead with 70 seconds remaining, but things got interesting when Green hit a clutch 3 from the wing with 24 seconds left to get East Ridge within one at 60-59.
Jerrian Besley hit the second of two free throws with 20 seconds left to increase Brainerd's lead to 61-59, but Eddie Hitchcock sent the East Ridge fans into orbit with a 3 from the corner with 10 seconds remaining.
Brainerd called a timeout at that point, setting up the final play for Kitchens.
"As Joe Louis used to say, 'We win,'" said Brainerd coach Robert High shortly after the game ended.
"We let a big lead slip away in the second half, but we hit the big shot at the end. I'm getting too old for this kind of stuff. It used to be fun, but it hurts at my age," the 68-year-old veteran coach added.
"I told my guys during the timeout that we were going to the basket and that we didn't want a jump shot. I was hoping that Demetrius would get the ball in his hands and he did. We knew that he would either score or get fouled or both and it worked out to our advantage," High added.
Kitchens was the go-to guy for the Panthers in football and he's assumed the same role in basketball.
"I told them that I wanted the ball in my hands in that last possession. When I got the pass, the lane was open as nobody was there to defend me. It was one of the biggest shots I've ever made," the six-foot senior explained.
East Ridge coach Jon Goddard was proud of his team's comeback.
"I think we played pretty well for about 11 minutes in the second half, but I kept telling those guys that we weren't out of it and had to take it one possession at a time.
"We never quit, but it came down to one play and they made it and we didn't. Our help on the backside simply was not there on that last shot," Goddard said matter of factly.
Jeulian High scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Brainerd while Kitchens was next with 16 points.
Orlando Moore had eight points and eight rebounds for the Panthers.
Green had an outstanding game for the Pioneers with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Hitchcock was next with 16.
Brainerd won the rebound battle, 28-24.
GIRLS SUMMARY
RED BANK 6 11 11 7 -- 35
EAST HAMILTON 6 11 23 8 -- 48
Red Bank (35) -- Babb 4, Gagliano, Pittman 1, Cooper 4, Ferguson, Griffin 2, Wilbanks 24.
East Hamiton (48) -- Caudle 6, Lewis 14, Scott 8, Ivins 4, Belle 5, B.
Moon 9, K. Moon, McElvain, Newton, Zackery, Woods, McCollum, Dixon 2.
3-Point Goals: Red Bank none; East Hamilton 5 (Caudle 2, Lewis 2, Belle)
ALL-TOURNAMENT PICKS: Brynn Moon, Jessica Caudle, Tiffany Lewis (East Hamilton); LaVaughsia Pittman, Shay Cooper, MiShannon Wilbanks (Red Bank); Ajee Smith, Treketta Bonds (Tyner); Andrea Sylman, Brittanee Foy (Central).
BOYS SUMMARY
EAST RIDGE 14 5 16 27 -- 62
BRAINERD 11 14 23 15 -- 63
East Ridge (62) -- Besley 6, Holland 3, Davidson, Green 24, Cox 6, Hitchcock 16, Sternes, Bumpass, Traylor 7, Douglas.
Brainerd (63) -- Besley 6, Kitchens 16, Tipton 3, T. High 7, Evans 6, J. High 17, Moore 8.
3-Point Goals: East Ridge 12 (Besley 2, Holland, Green 4, Hitchcock 3, Traylor 2); Brainerd 4 (Besley, Kitchens, T. High, Evans).
ALL-TOURNAMENT PICKS: Jabari Evans, Demetrius Kitchens, Jeulian High (Brainerd); Alfonzo Cox, Chris Green, Eddie Hitchcock (East Ridge); Iman Jones, Travis Murphy (Tyner); Antonio Smith, Brandon Walters (Howard).
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)