Tift athletic director Rusty Smith (left) has a postgame hug for Tift County High principal, Kim Seigler.

ATLANTA – Tift County took home its third state basketball title Saturday night at McCamish Pavilion, defeating Norcross 55-52 in front of a lively crowd.

Despite trailing at halftime 21-19 and despite Preston Horne being held to four points, Tift County (29-2) came through.

“We stayed the course,” said head coach Dr. Eric Holland after the game.

The Blue Devils last won a state title in 2014. After early exits in 2015 and 2016, there might have been some doubt that they could go all the way again.

“We told ourselves we’re good enough to win a state championship,” said Holland. “We did it this year.”

Holland credited the title with what he called PHD – “passion, hard work and dedication.”

“We didn’t want to prove anybody in the state wrong,” he said. “We wanted to prove ourselves right.”

Tift won the championship at the free throw line, making 24 of 26 free throws – 20 of 21 in the final quarter.

But there were plenty of nervous moments.

Norcross had to miss a three-pointer at the buzzer for the Devils to escape and Tift had to overcome a pair of turnovers in the final minute as an 11- point lead nearly disappeared during a span of 1:38.

Montavious Johnson made a two free throws at 1:38 for a 49-38 lead, but Norcross stormed back, first with a free throw by Kyle Sturdivant at 1:23. Seconds later, Dalvin White was fouled while attempting a three-pointer. He made all three free throw attempts and following a Norcross steal and shot by White, the lead had suddenly dwindled to 49-44.

Montavious Terrell broke up the Norcross spree with free throws at 51 seconds, but Jordan Goldwire edged the opponents even closer with a three-pointer at 0:42.

Norcross almost snagged another turnover after Tift inbounded the ball, but the Devils managed to call a timeout a split second before a jump ball was called.

Norcross ended up with the ball anyway and Lance Thomas made it a two-point game with free throws with 24 seconds left. The game got even more crucial when Norcross came up with a backcourt steal, but a foot went out of bounds and Tift had possession again.

Micah Johnson made two free throws with 16 seconds left.

Then came the nail-biting for the Devils.

Joseph Toppin was fouled on a slam dunk with 10 seconds left. He made the free shot and it was now 53-52.

Fortunately for Tift, the ball ended up in Micah Johnson’s hands. The senior point guard was fouled with eight seconds remaining and as the team had done all night, he made two free throws.

Down three points, Norcross rushed the ball up the floor but missed a three-pointer from the left wing, leading to Tift’s bench spilling to the floor as time ran out.

Tift started the game with a 4-0 lead, with Horne completing an offensive rebound and Micah Johnson making a jumper.

Norcross roared back with an 11-0 run on the strength of four points from University of Georgia signee Rayshaun Hammonds.

The Devils gathered themselves, though, Rashod Bateman making the first of his four three-point shots. They would trail 13-9 after a quarter.

Norcross had another run to start the second half, White hitting a shot from deep to boost the advantage to 18-9, their highest.

Things began to change, however, with an alley-oop dunk from Bateman at 3:51. He scored the team’s next eight as only Thomas scored for the last 4:53 of the half for Norcross.

After trailing 21-19 at the break, Tift tied it up 2:08 into the second half on a shot from Fred Lloyd. Twenty seconds later, Micah Johnson stole the ball and was fouled on a shot attempt. He made one attempt to give Tift a 22-21 lead.

Tift extended its advantage to eight points on a Bateman three-pointer, 32-24, before Goldwire and White accounted for five straight points to make it a thin 32-29 lead going into the final eight minutes.

Thomas made two straight baskets in the fourth for a 33-32 Norcross lead. It would be their last.

Micah Johnson led the Devils in scoring with 24 points, 17 in the fourth quarter. Bateman finished with 18 points.

Lloyd had 10 rebounds and Micah Johnson finished with nine boards.

Horne’s four points tied a season low. While the team’s high scorer for the season, Holland said it was not all about the Virginia Tech signee.

“It’s never about P.J.,” he said. “It’s about us. We told our guys all night long we need our guys, everybody in blue to step up.”

Holland was jokingly asked after the contest if the Devils, who shot 92 percent from the free throw line ever missed.

“No,” he said. “It’s what we do all day, every day.”

White topped Norcross with 15 points, Thomas adding eight points.

Hammonds had eight points before fouling out with 3:22 remaining.