BLOOMFIELD -- Hayti tried everything to slow down Doniphan's Klay Barton and failed. In the final seconds, a desperate double team watched as Barton's potential go-ahead jumper rimmed out.
"We tried to face guard him, we tried to run and jump, we tried to do a lot of different things," Hayti coach Aaron Bidewell said. "He was just having one of those nights where you prayed that you had a couple good stops in the end and we did in the end.
"We were blessed to come on the high end of that late in the game."
The Indians were up by one when Barton missed his jumper, and Chrivonte Moore grabbed the defensive rebound with 3.9 seconds left. He was immediately fouled, made both free throws, and the No. 6 Dons missed a long 3 at the buzzer as No. 2 Hayti won 67-64 in the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament semifinals Thursday.
"Growing up in this atmosphere as a kid, you always want to be a part of this. I'm just so glad they get to experience it, our kids. It is going to be a great crowd (in the finals). We are happy to be here," Bidewell said.
"D'Niko Richardson came off the bench and gave us big minutes. Nakwon Harris, Louis Wright ... We got in foul trouble and those guys coming in, huge minutes for us ... They are kids that do the right thing, show up to the gym on time, put in extra shots after practice. Those are the guys that are the heroes tonight for us."
The Indians (8-2) will face top-seeded Dexter, which survived its own nail-biter against No. 4 Malden, in the championship at 8:30 p.m. Friday.
"Oh my gosh. Well coached, can do it all," Bidewell said of Dexter. "We have total respect for their program and who they are. It is right in their backyard. We are by far the underdogs tomorrow, we know that. We'll try to come in and compete the best we can."
Doniphan (4-7) and Malden will play for third place at 7 p.m. Friday.
"They'll be good, they'll be ready," Dons coach Logan Nutt said of Malden. "We are going to rest tonight and make sure we are fully prepared to improve our basketball game and we'll be ready to go tomorrow night."
Barton entered and left Thursday's game as the tournament's leading scorer. He put up 37 points against Hayti, giving him 86, averaging 28.7 for the tournament, 12 more points than Hayti's Darius Jones. Jones had 28 points against Doniphan and was scoreless in the fourth quarter.
"We feel like he is one of the best shooters in the area," Bidewell said of Jones. "He's been shooting like that for a long time. He's really stepped up in other parts of his game this year as far as taking on more of a defensive role and starting to rebound ... That's the things I am most proud of. He's always been a good shooter."
Barton's 37 was also a single-game high for the tournament, and the Dons needed every bit of it after they fell behind by 19 points in the second quarter and 16 at halftime.
"Klay is playing on another level right now. He's a scorer," Bidewell said.
It was tied at 14-all when Jones closed the first quarter with a personal seven-point run that kick-started a 21-5 burst by Hayti.
With a little more than four minutes left in the first half and Donphan down by 19, its biggest deficit of the game, Nutt opted for a near line change, subbing in four players at once and leaving Barton on the floor.
"Hayti came out to a hot start and they were hitting a lot of shots. At halftime, we just knew we had to stick to our principles offensively and defensively and make sure we weren't trying to score 19 points at once," Nutt said. "We just want to play as hard as possible at all times, pressure the ball and trust our help. We've got to always trust our help and at times tonight our help was not there. We have to fix that. Offensively, we just want to take the best team shot we can take. I think these guys did a good job tonight."
From that point through the end of the third quarter, Barton scored 22 points as Doniphan steadily chipped away at the lead. The Dons were back within single digits with under two minutes left in the third quarter and were down seven points going into the fourth.
"We just started getting some hands on their passes, getting a couple deflections, a loose ball here and there," Nutt said. "We were limiting them to one shot per possession and things started going our way. It gave us a little bit of hope and we were able to use that momentum to catch up and give ourselves a chance to win."
Jake Eddington sank a corner 3 with 5 1/2 minutes left to make it a one-possession game for the first time since it was 16-14.
With three minutes left, Barton dribbled, faked his defender, pump faked the help defense, and rattled in an open 3 to tie the game.
It was still tied with under a minute to go when Barton missed a 10-footer and Jones missed a 3 at the other end. Except on Jones' 3, Doniphan forward Trent Lippoldt was called for a foul and Hayti's Jayshaund Moore made a free throw in the double bonus.
Down by one, Doniphan set up its offense and had a good chance at a back-door cut for a layup, but the bounce pass led its man a hair too much and went out of bounds.
With under 30 seconds to go, the Dons pressured, forced a turnover and gave the ball to Barton. He dribbled left and pulled up from 15 feet with both Jayshaund Moore and Chrivonte Moore in his face. The shot was inches long, Hayti added two free throws, and the Dons missed a long 3 to force overtime.
"Our guys showed a lot of heart tonight. They showed some composure. We definitely have areas we can improve on, but for the most part besides the loss, I am proud of our team," Nutt said. "I wish we could have learned from a win tonight instead of from a loss, but we'll get better and move on."