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When West Jessamine's Jarrod Polson watched East Jessamine's Jordan Redd's 3-point attempt as time expired Friday night, he knew it was going in.

Despite being double-teamed by Polson and Bradley Straight, Redd's deep 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded looked good.

"That last shot, me and Bradley both were saying, 'It's in.'" Polson said. "It's overtime."

But Redd's shot hit the back of the rim and bounced out, giving the Colts (18-6) a 74-71 victory and the three straight win over the Jaguars (12-12) this season.

For Jaguars, the final shot - hit or miss - was what they wanted.

"That's what we talked about. Give yourself an opportuniy and the kids did that," East Coach Chris O'Bryan said. "We fell down by 14 in the fourth quarter. They kept battling the whole time, I was proud of them."

In fact, the Jaguars had to battle through the entire game after West opened with a 5-0 run to start the game. They were up 9-1 moments later and held a 21-9 advantage after the first quarter.

But the Jags stormed back, crashing the boards and pushing the action offensively. A 7-0 run pulled them within five points, though, with less than two minutes left in the half, the Colts had jumped back out to a 11-point lead. East used a 9-2 run to close to 33-29 at halftime.

"We got off to a good start," West Coach Damon Kelley said. "East didn't quit. They stayed in it and it went down to the wire. I told them kids, 'We can do better, but we need to be pleased we got the win tonight."

West rebuilt its lead in the third quarter and with six minutes left in the game, led 60-49. East started to warm up from the outside, getting shots to fall after struggling early, characterized by Micheal Rexroat's bank 3-point shot that seemed to revitalize his outside game.

"I thought Micheal did a great job," O'Bryan said. "He missed a couple 3s where he was rushing the shot. In the third quarter, he started to penetrate and he missed a couple of those. But he kept battling. He didn't hang his head. He kept shooting and kept after it, then he banks in the three and that got him going. That's all it takes. A shooter just has to keep shooting the ball and not get down on yourself. He's growing up and he's becoming a heckuva basketball player."

East outscored the Colts 27-18 in the final stanza, but could get over the final hump as West continued to get the buckets it needed to hold on the lead at home.

As the Jaguars swtiched defenses and tried to deny Polson the ball, the Colts were able to get buckets from all over.

"We reacted to what they were doing," Kelley said. "We've been practicing, expecting people to (chase Polson). We know that's going to happen. We've got good basketball players. I thought Gus (Sherrow) stepped up and hit a huge three to give us a lead with about two minutes to go, we've got guys capable of doing that."

West led 74-69 with 24.5 seconds left. East mounted a rally in the waning seconds and senior Kyle Lamb brought the ball up court as the final seconds ticked away. He was unable to get a look and found Redd open on the right wing. Redd had little time and two players in his face. Still, he got off a shot that hit iron.

"I'm just proud of the fact they kept battling the way they did," O'Bryan said. "That's the defending region champ on their home floor.

They could have rolled over and died but they didn't. I really am proud of the kids right now."

The Jaguars were led by Lamb's 23 points. Redd added 17 points while Rexroat tossed in 12, nine of which came off 3-point baskets. Polson paced the Colts with 23, tying for the game high with Lamb. David Elliott added 15 and Dylan Pohl tossed in 14. Sherrow added 10 in the win.

West outrebounded East 30-23 but turned the ball over three more times, with the Jaguars committing 10 turnovers.

The win puts the Colts into a tie for the top seed in the district tournament with Mercer County. A coin flip Friday will decide who gets the No. 1 seed. If West loses the flip, the Colts will have to face East for a fourth time this season, and for the second time at East.

The Jaguars host this year's district tournament. If the Colts win the flip, they face Burgin instead.

The prospect of facing an East team for a fourth time, even if the margin of victory has shrunk each time, doesn't worry Kelley.

"I think if it's postseason time, I don't care if you've never seen them or if you've played 20 times that year," he said. "You've got to bring it. I'm not worried about that aspect, I'm worried about getting my ball club to play the best basketball it can in the postseason."

The Jaguars look to bounce back when they host Wayne County Saturday night at 6 p.m.

The Colts travel to Woodford County tonight before returning home to host Wayne County Friday at 7:30 p.m.

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