Without taking a timeout, Sweeney rushed the ball up the court for a last-second shot before being fouled at midcourt, sinking both free throws for the win.

“That was a crazy last couple of minutes,” Jay head coach Jeff Gibe said. “But that’s what you expect out of a rivalry game. It was a tough, close game. I’m just real proud of our guys and their effort tonight.”

The Bulldogs (4-15) led 24-23 at the half. The two teams traded the lead three times in a back-and-forth third quarter with neither squad getting more than a two-point advantage with Jay leading 39-37 by the end of the period.

But back-to-back three-point plays by Taylor Foster and Sweeney fueled an 8-0 run that gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead of the second half at 47-38 with just under six minutes to play.

Grove would respond by clamping down defensively, not allowing a field goal for the rest of the game while clawing back into the game with an 11-2 run down the stretch.

“Our guys have done that all year long,” Grove head coach Zach Trimble said. “We’ve been down in every game, but they continue to fight and try to get back in it. It’s just a couple of plays here and there that cost us.”

The game turned into a dual between Jay’s duo of Sweeney and Foster and Grove’s Spencer Londagin and Jake Spychalski. Sweeney and Foster combined for 36 points on the night, including 22 in the second half, while Londagin and Spychalski combined for 25 points in the second half and 40 for the game. Spychalski scored a pair of buckets and Londagin hit on 5-of-6 free throws during Grove’s closing run.

“We knew it wasn’t over,” Gibe said of the fourth quarter. “We talked about fundamentals, securing the basketball in every situation. We knew they had to come foul us and it was a matter of getting to the free throw line and hitting clutch shots.”

The Bulldogs were solid at the line, hitting 6-of-8 in the fourth quarter, but five turnovers helped get the Ridgerunners back in the game, including one with 15 seconds left that set up Williams’ tying score.

But Sweeney and Jay had the final answer.

“That’s another heartbreaker,” Trimble said. “Two in the last five days. We’re close, we’re real close. We’ve got a bunch of one-, two-, three-point losses, games that could turn a season around but we’re just not closing them out.”

The win was the third in the last four games for the Bulldogs, who snapped a 10-game losing streak with a pair of wins at the Tri-State Classic over the weekend.

“We’ve won two in a row and three’s a winning streak,” Gibe said. “This is the right time of the season to be playing good basketball so hopefully we can carry this on. We’re starting to hit our stride.”

Spychalski finished with a game-high 23 points for Grove, while Londagin added 17. Sweeney led Jay with 19 points while Foster had 17. Will Robertson added 8 points for the Bulldogs, who will play at Wagoner on Friday.

Grove will travel to Catoosa on Friday.