HAYDEN – After falling to Hayden twice over the course of the regular season, Mortimer Jordan (20-10) came through when the stakes were highest on Friday night in the Class 5A, Area 11 tournament championship game.

The visitors, behind a fast offensive start and a complete defensive effort, came away on top of Hayden by a count of 60-50.

“This one was tough, they had beaten us twice in the regular season,” said Mortimer Jordan head coach Daniel Foy. “(They are) a very talented, very skilled team, but our kids were just determined.”

Colby Moon, who later left the gym with an MVP plaque in hand, gave the Blue Devils an early 7-0 advantage with a 3-point make from the wing. Moon finished the night with ten points.

Mortimer Jordan continued firing from behind the arc. Offensive rebounds led to a pair of triples from Caleb Brown and Trey Peters to send the Blue Devils into the second frame with a 15-4 lead.

“We made shots early that we hadn’t made in the previous games,” Foy said. “We’re always going to be pretty solid on the defensive end, so it’s just about making shots and we did that tonight.”

Offense eventually came for the Wildcats thanks to Lenard Johnson, who powered his way to a game-high 18 points. He put two points on the board with a transition assist to Josh Phillips at the third quarter horn. That make pulled Hayden to within eight, but that’s as close as things would get.

Mortimer Jordan’s Patrick Burkett started the final frame with an offensive put-back followed by a baseline 3-pointer to put the visitors ahead 46-35 with 3:45 remaining. That lead grew to 52-38 thanks to a pair of drives from Moon and Sawyer Swindle.

Johnson managed to find five more points for Hayden in the closing minutes, but it wouldn’t be enough to catch the visitors. Sophomore Justin Anderson preserved the championship win with a 7-of-8 performance from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. The sophomore went for a team-high 11 points.

Mortimer Jordan defended on the perimeter — something Foy knew would be key on Friday night. They held Hayden to a 3-for-25 effort from behind the arc.

“We gave up a lot more drives to the basket because we were going to stay close to the shooters and make it tough on them,” Foy said. “They have so many shooters, so we really inverted our game plan to stay tight to them and it paid off.”

Foy and the Blue Devils will have a few days to celebrate the win before inviting Alexandria for the sub-regional round of the playoffs on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Hayden will now travel to Anniston on Tuesday night.