Jeffery Huff Jr. scored three points in the final five seconds as Selma stunned Stanhope Elmore Friday night to win the class 6A, area 5 championship.

Huff made a free throw to tie the game 70-70 with 5.4 seconds to play. On the inbounds pass, Ivan Williams came up with a steal and threw the ball to Huff, who knocked down a jump shot as time expired to win the area title.

“I think we all sprinted across the court,” said Selma coach Ronald Lane of the ensuing celebration.

The Saints had gotten unlucky in the way the tiebreaker worked out for area 5. Selma lost two coin flips and was relegated to the No. 3 seed, despite tying both Chilton County and Stanhope Elmore for the area championship.

“They’re just resilient and I think they’ve bought in,” Lane said. “I think they’ve bought into that mantra that we’ve been using all season and we stick to it religiously of mental toughness and extra effort, and I think they are starting to see it pay off.”

This week the Saints left little doubt who the best team in area 5 is. Huff scored 25 points on Friday to lead all scorers in Friday’s win. Saints’ senior Jacquez Wright joined Huff on the all-tournament team after scoring 8 points.  Kevin Jones also scored 8 points for Selma.

The Saints (16-10) will play Wetumpka on Tuesday night in a sub-regional game.