VANDALIA — The match-up between Brookville and Greeneview was living up to the closeness of the seeds and records with just under a minute remaining in the third quarter.

Brookville, the number five seed led the eighth seeded Rams 31-30. Then Jace Wood of Brookville drained a three pointer at the buzzer to end the third frame and Brookville parlayed that trifecta into an explosion of points, 29 to be exact in the final eight minutes to pull away and win 63-47 to win a sectional championship and advance to the district semifinals.

Brookville will play Saturday March 2, against the defending District Champions Miami East Vikings. The game will be played at 7 p.m. at the SAC at Butler High School.

Brookville placed four in double figures against Greeneview led by Wood with 18, Dom King with 13, Cole Crabtree tallied 11, and Braedan Smart added 10 markers.

Chase Allen kept the Rams competitive by scoring 22 points, 20 in the second half. Alex Horney added 10 for Greeneview, which finishes the season with a record of 13-10. Brookville improves to 17-6, the third most wins ever under coach Jeff Davidson.

Both teams seemed rusty after layoffs of 12 days for Brookville and 11 or Greeneview. However, the teams shook off the rust in the second half. The first quarter ended with Brookville leading 9-8 as Keegan Mehr hit a layup with ten seconds left in the initial period of play. It was Mehr’s only points of the game.

The second quarter featured the teams staying close. The game was tied at 14 all and 16 all in the frame. Dom King made a pair of free throws with 1:23 on the clock to give Brookville the lead. Smart drained an elbow jumper as the first half ended to give Brookville the lead at 20-16 heading into intermission.

The third frame saw the teams exchange baskets to begin the second half. Brookville led 24-18 when the Rams clawed away and eventually tied the game at 28 on a trifecta by Allen with three minutes left in the quarter.

Dom King made a free throw and Brendan Fisher scored inside to give Brookville a 31-28 advantage. Tripp made a basket for the Rams with 55 seconds left. Then Wood made the long three-point hoop to end the third quarter with Brookville leading 34-30. Wood had seven and Smart four points in the stanza.

Greeneview scored the first basket of the fourth quarter to cut the gap to two points at 32-30. This is when Brookville started to take off. Fisher drained a three-pointer. Dom King grabbed his own missed shot and put the ball in the hoop. Then Cole Crabtree played string music from behind the arc and Brookville suddenly led 42-32.

A rare four-point play occurred when Allen made a three-pointer and was fouled and hit the ensuing free throw. King made another layup and the Rams then scored on a drive by Allen and it was 44-38.

Brookville answered with layups by Wood on a back door cut and a steal and fast break bunny by Cole Crabtree. The score was 48-38 Blue Devils with 4:50 left in the game. It was 50-42 when Brookville then stretched the advantage to 15 markers on a basket by Smart inside and a Wood three-pointer with 1:57 left in the game.

The Blue Devils eventually led 63-45 when both teams cleared their benches. The final score was 63-47.

Greeneview made 18 of 49 shots for 37 percent. That includes four of 19 behind the arc. The Rams had 16 turnovers and were seven of 13 from the foul line.

Brookville shot 44.8 percent hitting 26 of 58 from the field including six of 16 from three-point land. Brookville was five for eight from the charity stripe. Brookville had 27 rebounds, 17 assists, 12 steals and only nine turnovers.

Individual stats for Brookville show Dom King with a really good all-around game. King had 13 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, and three steals. Jace Wood had a team high 18 points with four rebounds and three steals.

Cole Crabtree scored 11 points and stole the ball four times. Braedan Smart had ten points and seven rebounds. Brendan Fisher added seven points, four boards, and dished out five assists. Keegan Mehr and Coltin Lawson each added a pair of points.

Brookvillesports.com will broadcast the sectional final game between Brookville and Miami East on Saturday beginning at 6:40 p.m. Brookville has played Miami East five times since 2001, in the tournament three times in the sectional final and the Vikings have won all five match-ups. This is the third straight sectional final for Miami East at Butler.