BERNIE -- Hayti strung together an 8-0 run to take the lead, and senior all-stater Darius Jones made four clutch free throws Thursday night to send the second-seeded Indians to their second-straight MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 championship.
The Indians beat top-seeded Bernie 58-54 in a game where the lead changed hands 11 times.
The Indians (20-5) will take on defending state champion Oran (21-5) in the sectionals at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday in Jackson. Oran won the District 2 championship Thursday night with a 77-46 victory over top-seeded St. Vincent.
Chrivantae Moore's 3-pointer put the Indians ahead to stay (51-49), and Kobe Cooper's three-point play gave them a 54-49 lead with 1:16 to play. Moore started the run with a putback.
Nate Dillinger, who finished with 12 points, made two free throws with 26.1 seconds left to cut Hayti's lead to 54-51 before Jones, who scored a team-high 17 points, made his first two free throws with 12.5 seconds to go.
Hunter Slavings' three-point play with 4.6 seconds left sliced the Mules' deficit to 56-54, but Jones made two more free throws with 3.8 seconds remaining to secure the win.
"If there's a kid who spends more time in the gym than him, I don't know who they are," Hayti coach Aaron Bidewell said of Jones. "He's a kid that wants it at the end. He's been our leader all year long, our returning all-state kid. I couldn't ask for anything more. He's a fantastic kid, good grades. He'll be going to Rend Lake next year, but we're sure glad he's on our team right now."
The Indians' pressure defense proved pivotal on a night where they struggled from the perimeter. They turned 27 Bernie turnovers into 28 points, according to Bernie coach Brad Botsch.
"It's always tough to lose your last one. Five seniors, they're hurting and we're hurting. They put in a lot of time. It's a great group of kids," Botsch said. "I thought we competed hard. We lost to a really hot team right now. You've got to give them a lot of credit. They put a lot of pressure on you, and we turned the ball over too much. Even a couple (fewer) turnovers tonight, and we would've had a really good shot of winning that game."
The Indians, who made eight 3-pointers, were forced to rely on the outside shot offensively because Bernie played a zone defense.
"We had to take our chances," Botsch said of letting the Indians shoot from outside. "If we really get out and try to guard them, they're going to penetrate and beat you off the dribble. They're quicker and more athletic than we are. We (had to) find a way to game plan and try to make some things work, and I thought overall, we did that. We missed a couple of open looks I wished we would've made, but that's basketball."
Jones, Jaishaud Moore and Chrivantae Moore, who finished with 10 points, each made 3-pointers in the first quarter, as the Indians led by as many as eight points and took an 18-12 lead into the second quarter.
Bernie led 1-0 on a free throw by Blake Harty and tied the score at 5 on a jumper by Dillinger. Michael Suiter, who scored a game-high 20 points, converted a pass inside from Dillinger to cut the Mules' deficit to 8-7, but the Indians scored seven straight for a 15-7 lead.
Bernie trimmed it deficit to three on a 3-pointer by Slavings, who finished with 11 points, and a layup along the baseline by Dillinger, but Chrivantae Moore's 3-pointer gave the Indians a six-point lead entering the second quarter.
The Mules took a 21-20 lead on a 3-pointer by Slavings, a 25-22 advantage on a baseline drive by Dillinger, and a 27-25 lead on an inside basket by Suiter.
The Indians recovered to take a 22-21 lead on a steal and layup by Cooper, who finished with 10 points. They tied the score at 25 on a 3-pointer by Jones and at 27 on layup by Cooper.
Suiter scored inside with 4.2 seconds left to give the Mules a 29-27 halftime lead.
Bernie extended its lead to as many as seven points early in the third before the Indians started knocking down shots.
Slavings' jumper gave the Mules a 39-32 lead before Jones made a long jumper and a 3-pointer to cut their lead to two points. Jaishaud Moore's 3-pointer gave the Indians a 40-39 lead with 2:05 to play. Moore finished with 11 points.
Suiter and Devante Robinson exchanged buckets in the final two minutes, and the Indians took a 42-41 lead into the final quarter.
Suiter and Skylar Schwent scored to put the Mules ahead 45-42, but Jarrod Covington scored his only four points of the game -- a pull-up jumper and a steal and layup -- to give Hayti a 46-45 lead.
The Mules went ahead for the last time when Josh Ellenburg scored on a baseline move and Harty scored inside to give them a 49-46 lead.
"Overall, I thought we executed our game plan pretty well," Botsch said, "except for turning the ball over that many times. We just lost a lot of possessions and they gained a lot of points off those. They rebounded offensively pretty well, and that hurt us, too. The live-ball turnovers really hurt us because they went down and put those in the hole."