HANCEVILLE — With time running out and Hanceville down three to Good Hope, the ball found Brayden Harris.

The senior didn’t hesitate, rising up from beyond the arc and sending one through the Tom Drake Coliseum atmosphere toward the rim.

Splash.

While Harris’ shot didn’t win the game at the moment, it forced overtime and the Bulldogs held on for a 64-63 win over the Class 4A No. 3 Raiders in the championship game of the Cullman County Basketball Tournament Saturday night.

It was Hanceville’s first county crown since 2016. Head coach Stephen Chandler was an assistant on that team and is currently in his fifth season leading the program.

“Man, I’m just so excited about this team,” he said. “The grind of us getting here, then battling that Good Hope team, competing start to finish — I just couldn’t be happier for our program, our guys. They deserve this. They’ve earned this.”

And what a title tilt “this” was.

The game was close throughout, with neither team finding much separation through three quarters. Third-seeded Hanceville (21-6) led 44-42 heading into the fourth, but that’s when No. 1 Good Hope seemed to snag momentum with a 13-3 run throughout the first four minutes of the final stanza. Tyler Cone (six points), Colton Lindsey (four) and Kmal Bell (three) keyed the run.

Down 55-47, Harris rattled in a 3-pointer and Zach Campbell made a layup to pull the Bulldogs to within three points. The teams traded baskets from there, but what really hurt Good Hope most down the stretch was free throws. Leading by three, the Raiders (20-7) missed all three front ends of one-and-ones as Hanceville was fouling to stretch out the game.

That gave Harris and Co. a chance.

But it wasn’t just about the shot by Harris with four seconds left in regulation — it was the hustle play by Carson Garrett. The junior outmuscled the Good Hope defense for an offensive rebound with time ticking down before kicking out to Harris.

“He made the hustle play of the year,” Harris said. “Then he looked at me and I said, ‘Feed it here, feed it here.’ … That was the biggest moment of my life.”

Chandler said the hustle play by Garrett was no surprise.

“That’s part of his DNA,” he said. “He is an effort guy, and that’s kind of what he does and how he gets recognized by us. It’s all about hustle, hustle, hustle. He just put it on the line.

“Then, the IQ to find Brayden and Brayden knocking that shot down, all of it kind of perfectly fell together.”

The Bulldogs still had work to do, though, as the teams headed into overtime. Good Hope started out with four straight points — a layup from Bell and a couple of free throws by Lindsey.

A flurry by the Bulldogs, though, changed everything, as a 7-0 run established all the momentum they’d need to finish off the championship win. Braxton Broad scored on a pair of shots in OT, and it was Garrett’s 3 from the corner that put the Bulldogs up for good. Garrett, who typically isn’t an outside shooter, said he’d hit only “three or four” from beyond the arc this season.

“No hesitation,” he said of the shot. “I was feeling good this morning in shoot-around and just pulled it. The release was amazing, and it went through.”

Harris scored a team-high 16 points. He was all smiles about the shot at the end of regulation and said he had a little extra oomph coming into the game.

“My momma and dad, when we were coming to the game, they said we want you to bring it tonight. They gave a motivational speech,” Harris said. “When I hit that shot I was like, ‘I brought it — let’s win this championship.’”

And win it, the Bulldogs did. But only after Good Hope’s Weston Hancock just missed on a corner 3 as time expired in overtime — Cone put home a leaping offensive board ahead of the buzzer to make it 64-63.

Campbell finished with 14 points while Broad ended the night with 13.

For Good Hope, Lindsey shook off early foul trouble to score a game-high 18 points. Cone finished with 14 and Bell had 13.

“This is one of those things you think about, you talk about, you dream about — but it takes a lot to get here,” Chandler said. “I couldn’t be happier and couldn’t love these guys more than I do right now.”

Neither team really took command in the early stages, with Hanceville leading by as many as six in the first quarter and Good Hope seeing its biggest lead of the first half at three. The game was tied at 16 at the end of the first quarter, and the Bulldogs went up 25-21 on Harris’ 3-pointer with 3:31 to go in the opening half. But Good Hope ended the second quarter on a 6-0 run, with a couple of Weston Hancock layups sandwiched around a shot at the rim by Cone on a nifty spin move to his left side.

In the third quarter, there were seven lead changes to set up what was a dramatic finish.

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ALL-COUNTY TEAM

Connor Gibbs, Vinemont

John Mark Smith, Cold Springs

Nic Fallin, Cold Springs

Jay Lamar, West Point

Kolten Perry, West Point

Zach Campbell, Hanceville

Brayden Harris, Hanceville

Will Calvert, Hanceville

Kobe Payne, Fairview

Cylas Yarbrough, Fairview

Kollin Brown, Holly Pond

Gunnar McBee, Holly Pond

Blake Rickard, Holly Pond

Colton Lindsey, Good Hope

Kmal Bell, Good Hope

Weston Hancock, Good Hope

Tyler Cone, Good Hope

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ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Cylas Yarbrough, Fairview

Kobe Payne, Fairview

Brayden Harris, Hanceville

Will Calvert, Hanceville

Zach Campbell, Hanceville

Braxton Broad, Hanceville

Tyler Cone, Good Hope

Colton Lindsey, Good Hope

Kmal Bell, Good Hope

Blake Rickard, Holly Pond

Christian Couch, Holly Pond

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JOE SHULTS AWARD

Colton Lindsey, Good Hope

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ELI THOMAS MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

Will Calvert, Hanceville