Midfield’s Jaden Sellers was saddled with foul trouble for much of Tuesday’s Class 3A boys semifinal against top-ranked Sumter Central.

But he was on the floor when his team needed him most.

The 5-foot-9 freshman drilled a 3 from the corner with 31 seconds left and the fourth-ranked Patriots held on for a dramatic 64-61 win at Legacy Arena.

They will play for the school’s sixth state title on Friday against either Geraldine or Hillcrest-Evergreen.

“Armonie (Franklin) kicked it out to me, and I was wide open,” said Sellers, who fouled out moments after his big shot with 19 points. “I felt like it was going in.”

Sellers’ 3 gave Midfield (24-9) a 62-60 lead. Jaylain Little hit one of two free throws with 19.2 seconds left to cut the lead to 62-61. Midfield’s Aaron Adams-Martin matched Little’s free throw with one of his own, bringing the Patriot lead to 63-61 with 17.7 seconds left.

Sumter Central (22-4) then had a chance to tie or take the lead, but Emmanuel Clarton was called for traveling with 7.6 seconds left.

“I didn’t want to take a timeout there,” Jaguars coach Jazmin Mitchell said. “I saw that one of our best ballhandlers had it. I wanted to keep the timeout in my pocket. Emmanuel had it 1-on-1. He made a good spin move and unfortunately got called for the travel.”

Neither team led by more than seven points in a tightly contested game. The win sends Midfield back to the final where it lost to Plainview 40-37 a year ago.

Star of the game: Sellers finished with 19 points despite his foul trouble. He went 7-of-11 from the field and 5-of-6 from the 3-point line. His final 3 proved to be the defining shot in a game with a lot of those.

Second-half star: Midfield sophomore Dujuan McKinney didn’t take a shot in the first half. He took five 3-pointers in the second half and made four of them, finishing with 12 points.

“He saved us today,” Midfield coach Courtney Jones said. “He didn’t attempt a shot in the first half. We went to him at the half and said, ‘Do what you do.’ He came with it in the second half.”

Bombs away: Midfield went 10-of-16 from 3-point range Tuesday. Jones said it was a strategy he adopted with the help of former Plainview and current Fort Payne coach Robi Coker.

“We made that an emphasis two years ago after I talked to coach Coker,” Jones said. “Going into last season, we started devoting maybe 85 percent of our practices to shooting the 3. Sometimes, it falls. Sometimes it doesn’t. Threes don’t travel all the time. But, with our dribble drives, if we can be consistent from the outside, it makes us hard to guard.”

Stat sheet: Midfield – Sellers led four players in double figures. Adams-Martin finished with 15 points. Armonie Franklin 14 and McKinney 12. Franklin also had 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Sumter Central – Jonathan Fitch scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half. Clarton finished with 16 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Little had 10 points and 8 rebounds.

By the numbers: Midfield was 24-of-51 from the field (47 percent) and 6-of-14 from the foul line (42.9 percent). Sumter was 25-of-50 from the field (50 percent), 4-of-11 from 3-point range and 7-of-10 from the foul line. The Jaguars outrebounded Midfield 35-25.

Did you know? Midfield and Sumter Central have combined for 11 state titles. Midfield last won the title in 2021.

Coachspeak: “Sumter Central has been playing wonderful basketball, playing extremely hard. They are deserving of the No. 1 ranking. But our guys are going to show up and be ready every time.” – Jones.

They said it:

“We remember the kids faces last year. The difference is this is the semifinals and not the state championship. Any kid who wants to play the sport wants to win a championship, but no matter how many you win, you always remember the ones you lose more.” – Jones on his team’s motivation following last year’s close title game loss.

“We didn’t want to go out like last year, losing the state championship. We wanted to keep going.” – Adams-Martin.

“I want to give all honor to coach Courtney. He had his guys prepared. This was one of the best games I’ve seen with two teams going up and down, basket for basket. It came down to who made the right adjustments and right stops. Our kids come from a place of low poverty. They play hard. They gave it all they had all year. I’m proud of them. People think it’s easy to get to the final four. It’s not. It’s a journey, a hard journey.” – Mitchell.

Next up: Midfield will play Geraldine or Hillcrest-Evergreen at 2:15 p.m. Friday for the state championship.