HANCEVILLE — Good Hope’s varsity boys needed all 32 minutes to put away Fairview on Friday night.

In the end, though, the top-seeded Raiders did just that, surviving the No. 4 Aggies 70-64 in the semifinals of the Cullman County Basketball Tournament to advance to Saturday’s championship game at Tom Drake Coliseum.

The Class 4A No. 3 Raiders (20-6) opened the bout with a 9-0 spurt, but the fourth-seeded Aggies (11-17) stayed within shouting distance throughout the first half — the Purple and Gold trailed 35-28 at the break — thanks in part to 16 points from Kobe Payne.

The second half became an edge-of-your-seat battle far exceeding the price of admission.

Fairview’s relentless play eventually allowed it to take its first lead of the game (52-51) with less than a minute left in the third quarter following a bucket from Payne.

The teams continued to trade blows well into the final period, with Good Hope holding a 63-61 lead late.

Coach Drew Adams’ squad then called upon its defense to close it out.

Following a basket and free throw that made it 66-61, Tyler Cone intercepted a pass and drove the length of the floor for a layup to extend Good Hope’s advantage to eight with 25 seconds remaining. The Red and White then recorded another stop, and Cone punctuated it with another finish on the other end.

The Aggies hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it was too little, too late.

Top Scorers

Fairview: Kobe Payne (26), Cade Yeager (9), Cylas Yarbrough (9)

Good Hope: Tyler Cone (26), Colton Lindsey (14), Jacob Haynes (11)

Coach Speak

“Usually games considered fun to watch by the fans are miserable for the coaches (laugh). That was one of those that was miserable. You’re expected to win against a team that’s good, can shoot the 3 and has really good players … just a high-nerve game. But that’s the definition of how you finish a game. We bookended it. Kobe kept keeping them in it. I’m just proud of the guys. They were getting us on switches and putting us in some tough situations. But we had the guts to get the stops when we needed to get them.” — Drew Adams

Player Speak

“We played a lot of defense late. Good defense beats good offense in my opinion. They have a dog in Kobe Payne, and he was going off. But we came out with the win. It feels great to get to play for a championship.” — Tyler Cone