VAN BUREN -- Nothing was easy for the top seeds in the MSHSAA Class 2 District 3 semifinals Monday night.
After state-ranked Thayer overcame a five-point deficit in the final three minutes to beat Ellington 47-42, second-seeded Neelyville saw its double-digit lead disappear late.
Jemaane Williams broke a tie midway through the fourth quarter as the Tigers put together a 7-1 run to hold off Winona 58-50, advancing to their first district final in three years.
"We were just lucky to make some plays and had guys step up," Tigers coach Patrick Morton said.
Neelyville (22-4) and Thayer (24-4) will play for the title at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
The Bobcats, ranked fourth in the last state coaches poll, have won six of the last seven district titles while Neelyville has only reached the state playoffs once and that was 34 years ago.
"It's big," Neelyville senior Tyler Lowe said. "We've just got to be smart and take care of the ball."
Neelyville turnovers helped Winona (16-11) erase a 28-18 halftime deficit. The Tigers struggled against a full-court trapping defense that forced five turnovers in the first half of the fourth quarter, allowing the Wildcats to go on a 12-4 run.
Dylan Teague scored six straight points to cap the rally, tying the game at 45-all with 4:27 left.
"They went to that trap and we just threw the ball all over the place," Morton said of Winona's full-court press in the second half.
"They did a great job, that was a great adjustment by them and they did it well."
The Tigers broke the press and Williams, who scored a team-high 16 points, knocked down a pull-up jumper for the lead. The freshman later sank the front end of a one-and-one foul shot but Curtis Fowler came away with the rebound on the second attempt and scored.
Fowler and Marquise West both had double-doubles with 11 points each and a combined 27 rebounds.
"There were times when we didn't block out but we still had good position to get the rebound," said West, who had 15 rebounds.
Neelyville led by four with 1:35 to go when Lowe rebounded a missed foul shot by Fowler, who went back to the line 14 seconds later to split a pair in the double-bonus. The Tigers then sank 7 of 8 free throws over the final minute.
"We were switching across instead of going straight in for it and that really helped us," West said of rebounding missed foul shots.
Said senior Taylor Harlow, "That's huge you get those 50-50 balls. It's not just a made bucket, it's a lot of momentum."
The Tigers pulled away with a 12-0 run early in the second quarter.
Fowler tied the game at 14-all with a tip in and West got a putback before Lowe later sank consecutive 3-pointers from nearly the same spot. Lowe scored 10 of his 12 points before halftime against Winona's zone defense.
Crossen's two foul shots with 2:23 left in the half put the Tigers up 24-14.
Winona started trapping in the third quarter, getting to within a bucket with a 12-5 run to start the second half. Williams answered with a drive and Lowe later picked off a pass for a layin for a 39-31 lead. Williams opened the fourth quarter with a steal and layin but the Wildcats rallied again.
"We were a little frantic at first but after we settled down we figured what we had to do to get wide open layups," West said.
That meant putting West or Fowler, both 6-foot-3, in the middle and letting them pass over the trap.
"Went to the drawing board there and got some guys open in places where we could beat that press," Harlow said.
Neelyville last reached the district final in 2015 as the fourth seed, losing to Thayer 63-51. The Tigers also lost by four points to Hayti in the 2010 final but has not won the title since 1984.
THAYER 48, ELLINGTON 42
The top-seeded Bobcats overcame a nine-point third quarter deficit to avoid an upset.
Thayer's Jalen Andrews sank consecutive 3-pointers in the span of 36 seconds and a minute later, picked off a pass for a go-ahead layup with 1:45 to play.
After the fourth-seeded Whippets were called for a traveling violation, they had five fouls to give while trying to force a turnover, burning 22 seconds. Trevor Jenkins sank both free throws for Thayer for a 44-41 lead but Ellington couldn't get a defensive rebound and still trailed by three with 16 seconds left.
The Whippets turned the ball over, stepping on the baseline, with 5 seconds left and Dagen Jones hit both foul shots to set the final score.
Thayer, which edged Ellington 49-45 in the final last year, led 10-4 early but freshman Brycen King sank the first of his three 3-pointers. Down 12-9 to start the second, freshman Kyle Conkright and junior Will Copeland scored to five Ellington its first lead.
The teams traded the lead four more times before Ellington scored the final points of the half for a 20-16 advantage. Copeland opened the second half with a drive and King sank a 3 for a 25-16 lead.
King's 3 with 3:42 left in the third put Ellington back up nine but Andrews started a 7-0 run and Ellington's lead was 32-28 entering the fourth.
Conkright, who scored a team-high 12 points, put Ellington up 39-34 with 3:44 left but Andrews answered with a 3.