CENTRE – It wasn’t the one-point thriller the two teams played in the sub-regionals last year, but it was just as entertaining.

Cherokee County was down to Saks by three Tuesday night with 2:34 left in the game, but then the Warriors turned in a relentless final two minutes on both ends of the ball to take a 49-45 victory that sends them back to Jacksonville for the Class 4A Northeast Regional.

The eighth-ranked Warriors (24-7) will meet Priceville (22-9) in Saturday’s regional semifinals. Priceville defeated Locust Fork 67-51 in other sub-regional action on Tuesday.

Saks’ season ends at 17-10.

“It was tough, and it felt like we weren’t going to win, but we found a way to pull it out,” said Warrior senior guard Joel Wester, who scored seven of his 12 points in the game’s final 1:32. “Our defense does it for us. Tyren (Dupree) and Quartez (Henderson), when they turn up the pressure on defense, it really helps our offense. We got a steal late (with a bucket) and one that really helped. Defense was the key. We only scored 49, but we felt if we held them to 45, then we we had a good chance to win.”

And so they did.

The Warrior rally began with Henderson’s trey with 2:08 left that tied the game at 40.

“I just knew we needed a bucket right there, and I just let it fly,” Henderson said.

Then, a steal by Tyren Dupree led to Wester’s deep three with 1:32 remaining that gave the Warriors a 43-40 advantage.

A layup by Saks’ Phonso Ward brought the Wildcats within one at 43-42 with 50.5 seconds to go. Following a timeout by the Warriors, Jacob Graves was fouled and sent to the line with 29 seconds left. Graves sank both shots to put the Warriors up three at 45-42, then a steal by Wester led to a layup and Jaylen Britt’s fifth foul, giving Wester an opportunity for a three-point play.

Wester missed the free throw with 21.4 second remaining, but the Warriors had stretched their lead to five at 47-42.

Saks didn’t give up, as Quin Smith sank a trey with 5.5 seconds to go to bring the Wildcats within two at 47-45, but Wester was fouled again with 3.7 ticks on the clock and sank both shots for the final.

“I just feel bad for our kids,” Saks coach Jonathon Miller said. “I thought we played outstanding. I thought we played our best game this season, but I just feel bad for them that it ended that way.

“We have trouble scoring a lot of times. We wanted the game to be in the 40s or 50s, 40s preferably. I thought we had a shot to win if that happened, but their kids, you’ve got to give it to them. They made two clutch shots to tie it and one to put them ahead.”

Cherokee County had a 15-10 advantage at the end of the first quarter and a 25-22 lead at halftime. The Warriors built a 37-28 lead on a Wester 3-pointer with 3:58 left in the third, but Saks’ Quin Smith scored the final six points of the quarter to trim the Warrior lead down to three at 37-34.

Saks managed to tie things up at 37 with 7:26 left in the game on a bucket and foul shot by Britt. The Wildcats took a 39-37 lead on a pair of Ward free throws with 4:28 to go. Ward added the front end of two shots with 2:43 remaining to give Saks a three-point cushion at 40-37.

That set the stage for the Warriors’ 12-5 run down the stretch.

“Our guys didn’t panic,” Warrior coach Neal Wester said. “They’ve been through it before. In this game last year against Saks, we were down seven in the fourth quarter and stuck with it. We watched part of that game again yesterday and we talked about it, but you never know how kids are going to react. I was really proud of them. They just kept battling. I was proud of their toughness, to find a way to get it done against a good team.”

Henderson led the Warriors with 14 points and a pair of steals. Dupree delivered eight points, seven boards and two steals. Graves also had eight points to go along with three assists and a steal. Nahum Horton had nine rebounds.

Britt led the Wildcats with 21 points, including three treys. Smith added 12 points and Ward finished with eight points.

“We just tried to stay calm, tried to stay patient and just try to get the stops we could to go back down and score,” Graves said. “Coach Wester just told us to keep staying patient, and the shots will come. Just keep going and keep pushing.”

That push led the Warriors back to Jacksonville, where they feel they have some unfinished business from last year’s regional semifinal loss to Westminster Christian.

“This year, I think our attitude is going to be totally different,” Coach Wester said. “We’re on a mission to go there and prove that we belong. You’re down to 16 teams, and I think our guys are hungrier this year.”