JACKSONVILLE – Sand Rock sophomore guard Brannon Burt is one of the smallest guys on the Wildcat basketball roster, but he came up with the season’s biggest play on Friday against No. 10 Fyffe.

With 3.1 seconds remaining in a tie game and a berth to the Class 2A Final Four hanging in the balance, Burt took a pass from teammate Riley Norris just past half court. He darted through the right side of the lane and laid the ball up as time expired, giving Sand Rock a thrilling 64-62 victory in the Class 2A Northeast Regional final.

“I was kind of the second option,” Burt said on his game-winning bucket. “Riley threw a perfect pass and I just went to the hole and hit the shot.”

The win propels Sand Rock (23-9) to Birmingham for the first time in boys basketball history. The Wildcats will face Barbour County (26-5) on Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. Fyffe’s season ends at 22-7.

It was the third time the two teams clashed this season. The Red Devils won the previous two meetings, but the third time was the charm for Sand Rock.

Wildcat head coach Brian Mackey joked he was too nervous to draw up the last play of the game.

“I wasn’t thinking,” he said. “I was telling (assistant) Coach (Kenny) Beck to draw it up. He started to draw it up, and we kind of added to it. We changed it a little bit, and it worked beautifully.

“I don’t know if we could have gotten them in overtime. They had momentum and they were coming back, but our guys played good.”

Burt’s heads-up play spoiled a furious comeback by the Red Devils. They trailed Sand Rock 53-42 after the Wildcats’ Justin Kyser connected on a pair of free throws with 4:28 remaining in the game. From that point, Fyffe went on a 20-9 run to tie the game at 62. The Red Devils final bucket of the game came on Lucas Yancey’s putback of a rebound on a 3-point shot attempt by teammate Evan King with 3.1 seconds left.

Sand Rock called timeout to diagram the winning play.

During the timeout, Fyffe coach Neal Thrash expected either Burt or senior Justin Mackey to take the final shot for the Wildcats.

“We were supposed to stay between them and the basket and make them shoot a perimeter shot,” Thrash said. “I didn’t get that across to our guys well enough. They went and shot a layup.”

Justin Mackey led Sand Rock with 26 points, including three 3-pointers and a 7-of-9 performance at the free-throw line. He earned the Class 2A Northeast Regional MVP following the game.

Kyser, also an all-tournament team selection, finished with 21 points, six rebounds and two steals. He was 10 of 11 at the free-throw line. Burt finished with seven points and four rebounds.

Fyffe was led by Jon-Marcus Freeman’s 20 points, 12 boards and two assists. Jesse Martin added 16 points and 12 rebounds. Both players were selected to the all-tournament team.

King finished with 10 points and Yancey ended with six points, six boards, four assists and two steals for Fyffe.

The game was pretty tight throughout the first three quarters. Fyffe led 12-11 at the end of the first quarter, but Sand Rock took a 28-25 lead at the break. The Wildcats held a 45-38 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Despite staying close the majority of the game, thrash said his team “couldn’t get in an offensive rhythm.”

“We didn’t share the ball well, and that was the key thing,” he said. “I don’t know whether Sand Rock had anything to do with that or what. It just wasn’t clicking for us tonight.

“We fought hard and got back in the game. We tied it up, but they just made a good play at the end.”

Added Brian Mackey: “We had to hold them off, and we held them off just enough. They still ended up tying it, but I kept thinking one more possession would get it. The last two minutes lasted about 30 minutes, but it turned out really good.

Justin Mackey, the Wildcats’ lone senior, said he’s grateful for the chance to play in the Final Four.

“At first, our goal was just to make it Jacksonville, but now we just hope to keep going,” he said.