Holly Pond's Dylan Basenburg drives for a shot on Cold Springs' Eli Hamby during Saturday's semifinal. 

HANCEVILLE — Brendan Flanigan didn’t even think he’d get to play in Saturday’s varsity boys semifinal — much less be the hero.

But when a game goes into four overtimes and five players foul out — four from Hanceville — the unlikeliest of heroes are bound to emerge.

Flanigan drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the arc as time expired Saturday night, capping off a wild 84-83 victory over West Point and sending the Bulldogs to the 2016 Cullman County Basketball Tournament title tilt.

Pandemonium struck Tom Drake Coliseum the second Flanigan’s buzzer-beater fell through. The sophomore, who finished with five points, was first dogpiled by his teammates at midcourt, then rushed by the cheerleaders and finally left to whomever could get their hands on him to celebrate the unbelievable moment.

Flanigan couldn’t even believe it himself.

“I was just saying, ‘Don’t pass it to me,'” he recalled of the game-winning assist from Xavier Malcom. “But then he passed it and I busted it. I’ve been working with ‘X’ this summer. That’s what helped me.

“That was a dream. Like really, I thought it was a dream.”

The fans left at Wallace State were about to start dreaming if it got any later past their bedtimes. The standard 32 minutes wound up ballooning into 48 — and Xavier Malcom didn’t leave the court for even one, packing 39 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists and foul steals into the NBA-length ballgame.

The senior superstar finished 16 of 21 from the free throw line for the second-seeded Bulldogs, who went 22 of 32 as a team.

Jose Orozco joined Malcom in double digits with 11 points. Isaac Weissend and R.J. Evans came close with nine, J.K. Davis drained a pair of treys, Luke Duffie tossed in three points, and Jordan Peoples had two.

“Obviously, you’re proud of the guys who came off the bench and played four overtimes with so many starters sitting over there with me,” coach Daniel Wakefield said. “Guys came in and played big minutes, made huge shots, got huge rebounds, made huge stops.

“Neither team deserved to lose that game. We should both go home with a tie and say, ‘Y’all show up again next week and play again,’ because it’s really not fair for either team to lose.”

Evans and Malcom combined on a five-point flurry at the end of regulation to pull Hanceville even at 54-54. The Dawgs had a chance to win the game outright but missed the front-end of a one-and-one to send the semi into overtime.

The Purple and Gold jumped out to a five-point lead in the first extra period and led 65-61 with 29 seconds remaining before West Point’s Tanner Rusk sank two at the line and Seth Parker put in a rebound in the closing seconds to force more bonus basketball.

The Warriors again trailed late in the second overtime, but Tanner Rusk again came through in the clutch, nailing both free throw tries with 1.9 seconds on the clock to tie the barnburner at 73-73.

The third overtime ended 75-75, setting up a frantic final frame West Point initially controlled. The Dawgs refused to go quietly into the night, however, taking an 81-79 lead on a clutch Weissend trey and making Rusk’s ensuing three-point play with 9.8 seconds left a mere memory following Flanigan’s stunning sequence.

“There were about three times I thought we won it and about three times I thought we lost it,” Wakefield said. “I was going to put it in X’s hands and whatever happened, I was going to live with it. That’s why I didn’t call a timeout. I was going to put the ball in my best player’s hands. If he shoots, fine. If he kicks it, fine. He kicked, and Brandon hit a big 3.”

Rusk topped the third-seeded Warriors with 23 points and 10 rebounds. The senior picked up 13 of his points on 19 attempts at the charity stripe, where West Point was 23 of 40 overall.

Parker and Cameron Moore were next in line with 19 and 18 points, respective. Andrew Shaw added 11 points, and Kobe Smith had 10. Brandon Farley pitched in a layup in the fourth overtime.

“Both teams, they were just playing with all guts,” West Point coach Randy Jones said. “We came up on the short end, but I told my guys to hold up their heads. There’s no faulting that type of game or effort.”

With Friday’s wintry weather pushing the county tournament into next week, Hanceville will now play Holly Pond Monday or Tuesday to try and force a tiebreaker for the area title and then face Cold Springs Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a shot at the program’s first county championship since 1998.

The Dawgs are 1-2 against Cold Springs so far this season, but Flanigan is confident they can even the series in the most important meeting to date.

“We got it,” he said.

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Cold Springs 68, Holly Pond 47

The most anticipated matchup of the night turned out to be the biggest snoozer.

Triston Chambers highlighted a 22-point, nine-rebound performance with a rim-rocking slam to start the second quarter, and Josh Freeman added 17 points and 11 boards as the No. 4 Eagles beat up on the shorthanded top seed in a rematch of the last two county championship games.

Class 2A No. 3 Cold Springs led 16-9 after the first quarter and used Chambers’ dunk to launch a 9-2 run that put the 3A No. 1 Broncos out of reach.

The Blue and Gold led 38-19 and 56-32 at the other quarter breaks and owned Holly Pond on the boards 40-17.

“We did a great job rebounding, which is kind of a measuring stick for us,” Cold Springs coach Tim Willoughby said. “Holly Pond outrebounded us bad at Holly Pond. We outrebounded them at Cold Springs. You can kind of look at our rebounding and have a good idea about our energy level.”

Cayde Elliott came through with 11 points, Jesse Lee let loose for seven, and Blake Wood and Fisher Willoughby each added four. Eli Hamby rounded out the Eagles with three.

The Broncos, who were already without stud point guard Bailey Smith and then lost Griffin Morris to a freak ankle injury during warmups, were led by Drew Jones with 16 points and eight rebounds. Dawson Foust cracked double figures with 11 points, and Matt Cahoon and Caleb Jones contributed seven apiece. Landen Walker whipped up five points, and Michael Lambert made a free throw.

“There’s no excuse for what we did tonight,” Holly Pond coach Mitch Morris said. “Bailey’s been out for three weeks and we won some games without him. It’s unfortunate Griffin hurt his ankle, but we had a gameplan in place. I thought we had it taken care of. After the first few minutes, we forgot everything. Couldn’t play offense or defense. As a result, you get beat by 20.”

Willoughby feels for the Broncos and knows what it’s like for the injury bug to bite at the completely wrong time. The coach said Chambers’ ankle was so sprained it was black in the 2015 title tilt and that the Samford signee had a few uncharacteristic turnovers as a result.

“That’s just part of it,” Willoughby said. “I hate it for Holly Pond. I hope they get their guys back. I really do. It’s a clean rivalry. You wish them the best.”