Cleo Bolar scored 13 points for Escambia County, but none were bigger than the last two, which came on a pair of free throws with three seconds left to lift the Blue Devils to a hard-fought 43-41 Class 4A subregional win over UMS-Wright at Wilson Gym on Tuesday night.

Tae Henderson also had 13 points and Stephen Williams added 10 as Escambia County (19-8) advanced to the South Regional in Montgomery.

Joe Lott was UMS-Wright’s lone player in double figures, scoring 19 points — including five 3-pointers — which helped the Bulldogs come back from a double-digit deficit. Bridges Simmons was held to 9 points as UMS-Wright ended the season at 20-12.

“I told our guys we had to do the small things right, get rebounds and don’t give up the big shot,” said ECHS head coach Layton Knight. “Bolar had a big game, but our main goal was to stop No. 2 (Simmons). If we get No. 2, we’ll come out of there (with the win).”

Sims Druhan’s basket at the start of the fourth period, followed by a Simmons 3-pointer, trimmed Escambia County’s lead to three, 32-29. The Blue Devils went on another run to go up by nine, but Lott’s 3-pointer with 3:33 left forced ECHS to call timeout. Another Lott 3-pointer — this one coming with 4.4 seconds in the game, ended a 9-2 run and tied the game at 41-all.

After the Bulldogs called timeout, Escambia County inbounded the ball and Bolar tried to drive the length of the court for a potential game-winning shot. Lott, in his effort to steal the ball, was called for a foul, much to the dismay of the UMS-Wright fans.

Bolar calmly sank both free throws, and UMS-Wright inbounded the ball with two seconds left. However, a desperation 3-pointer fell short as time expired.

“I thought we were going into overtime when he (Lott) sank that shot,” said Knight. “It’s hard to win here, but it’s a big win for us.”

“It’s an unfortunate way for the game to end, and our kids probably deserved a little better,” said UMS-Wright head coach Michael Napp. “I thought we should’ve been in overtime, but it didn’t work out. Lott had a fantastic night for us tonight.”

Escambia County led only 9-5 at the end of the first period, but a pair of second-period Bolar 3-pointers sparked a 14-2 run to put the Blue Devils up by 16 as UMS-Wright had a difficult time getting points inside the paint. A Lott 3-pointer and a basket Druhan trimmed the lead to 11 at the half.

Lott hit another 3-pointer to start the third period to trim the lead to eight, but ECHS went on another run to go back up by double digits. But the Bulldogs clawed back into contention when a Simmons basket sparked a 9-2 run, which ended with Lott’s 3-pointer at the buzzer and trimmed the lead down to eight, setting up the climatic final period.

“We didn’t have a lot of offensive firepower tonight, and a lot of it had to do with their No. 4 (Williams) in the paint,” said Napp. “We score most of our points in the paint, and he had a lot of impact. But Joe Lott kept us in the game; he’s as much a competitor as you’ll see anywhere. I’d go with him to war any day.”