BIRMINGHAM >> An electric final 60 seconds from Greg Grays, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 10 seconds left, allowed Brother Rice to crawl out of a late deficit and beat Birmingham Groves 64-61 for a district championship Friday night.

Moments after Falcons senior John Simpson had restored the lead with two free throws, David Williams brought the ball up the floor for Rice and handed it off to Grays, who took one dribble while moving to his right along the perimeter before sinking the three.

“I was so hyped,” Grays said. “I was ecstatic, excited. I was nervous, I’m not gonna lie, but once that dropped, we knew we had it.”

After the Warriors cleared the floor in celebration, the Falcons had a chance to win it with less than seven ticks remaining, but committed a turnover on a pass intended for senior Josh Gibson with nine-tenths of a second remaining.

Groves fouled Grays before more time came off the clock, and the junior made both free throws, capping off a final minute in which he scored a dozen points.

From there, the final fractions expired and the real celebration began for the Warriors.

“I feel like we kind of underestimated them, which we shouldn’t have done,” Grays said. “We felt we were the better team, and we were, but we should have respected them more. But on to the next one. We came out here, got the dub, did what we had to do.

It was clear from both Brother Rice head coach Rick Palmer and Grays that the plan was to go to Grays for the potential winner, and understandably so after what had had done just beforehand.

Free throws by Simpson, then a bucket off the glass by fellow senior Paul Hubbard put Groves ahead 59-52 with 48 seconds remaining. Within five more seconds, Gray was fouled on an attempted 3-pointer, which took a bounce off the front iron and in, and his free throw completed the four-point play to bring the Warriors within one possession.

On the opposite end, the Falcons missed a pair of free throws. Grays proceeded to miss a potential game-tying triple after that, but the Warriors gathered the refund and Grays did not miss when presented a second chance, tying the contest 59-59 with 24 seconds left.

“That’s what he does,” Palmer said. “He’s a big-time scorer and he wanted the ball. I had a lot of assistants in my ear when we had the ball there for the last one that he made, and a lot of suggestions. I kind of had my mind made up, and Greg had his mind made up what the next play was going to be. It was going to be get the ball to Greg and everyone watch it go through the net. So we executed that one perfectly.”

On what his team could have done better in those last few minutes, Falcons head coach Marc West half-jokingly responded “guard Greg Grays.”

He added, “But that’s what guys do, and unfortunately we couldn’t get it to our guy to make the same play. Come down the stretch, shots like that, (Greg) made tremendous plays. I mean, the and-1 fallaway three, then his teammates did a good job of finding him. Obviously, we would like to have one of those rebounds back. I’d like to have one of those possessions back, but that’s what tournament basketball is.”

If not for Grays, who scored 16 of his game-high 27 points in the fourth, the story would have been the electric play of Gibson.

Groves led 32-27 at halftime, and for a time after midway through the third, it seemed like the Warriors might need to bring out the fire extinguisher to cool off the Falcons’ senior guard. He stroked three treys in consecutive order, then went glass for a layup to put the home side ahead by 12 with 2:37 left in the quarter.

“When you talk about his name around here for a long time, they’re going to say, ‘Josh Gibson was special,’” West said. “And he’s going to be special at the next level. And with his 4.5 GPA and that big smile, his joy for life and joy for basketball, he’s going to be special in life.”

Gibson finished with 22 points, Simpson had 13, and Hubbard scored 10 for the Falcons, who also got nine — all on 3s — from Beau Kennard.

The Falcons finish what was otherwise a banner year with an 18-6 record.

“It ends because the kid’s special for a minute, but it doesn’t take away from what these kids did here,” West said. “These last three years, building the program to the point that, you know, we’re competing in the OAA Red for the first time, to winning the OAA Red for the first time. Those four kids (Gibson, Simpson, Hubbard and Landon McKinney), nobody ever gets to take that way from them.”

Williams complemented Grays with 14 points, and another senior, Jeremiah Caffey, ended with eight for the Warriors (22-2), who will have a chance to avenge one of their only losses on Tuesday when they’ll face Detroit U-D Jesuit in regionals at Detroit Renaissance.

“We’ve got to trust each other,” said Grays, whose team lost to the Cubs 44-58 on Dec. 6. “Last time we played them, fourth game of the year, we didn’t trust each other. Now, we’re more routine. We’re locked in.”