MOULTRIE — The Colquitt County boys, who had lived by the 3-pointer all season, could not get one to fall against Tift County on Friday in a semifinal game in the Region 1-AAAAA tournament at the Tift County Arena and fell to the Blue Devils 42-37.

The Packers had tied the game 37-37 on a basket by Andrew Wallace with 1:45 left, but Justin Brownlee put the regular-season champion Blue Devils ahead to stay on a basket and free throw with 50.7 seconds left.

The Packers then missed three 3-point attempts in the final 39 seconds.

Brownlee put the exclamation point on the Tift County victory with a windmill jam at the buzzer.

The Blue Devils will go to the tournament championship game at 8:30 tonight against No. 2 seed Houston County. The Bears defeated Lowndes 61-54 earlier on Friday.

The Blue Devils and Bears split their two regular-season meetings and Houston beat Tift County in Warner Robins last week.

The Packers will face Lowndes at 5:30 today in the consolation game. The winner will be the No. 3 seed to the state tournament.

The loser will be No. 4.

Colquitt County and Lowndes split their two meetings this season.

The Packers and Blue Devils played three close games this season.

Tift beat Colquitt County 57-52 in Moultrie and 49-47 with a pair of free throws in the final 4.7 seconds in the earlier meeting in Tifton.

Friday’s game was no different.

Colquitt led 24-17 at the half, but the Blue Devils made their move in the third quarter and took a 34-33 lead into the final eight minutes.

But Brownlee, who averages 21.2 points a game for the Blue Devils, took over the game in the final minute. The 6-foot-6 senior led all scorers with 16 points.

Keith Cagle, who had three 3-pointers, added 15 points.

Randy Parker had five and Maurice Morrow, Chris Range and Terrell Johnson had two points each.

The Blue Devils will take a 19-7 record into tonight’s championship game.

The Packers, who knocked off Coffee 57-51 in overtime on Thursday to reach the semifinals, fall to 13-13 overall.

Colquitt double-teamed Brownlee and Cagle down low and forced the Blue Devils to get their shooting from their guards.

Tift County countered by picking up the pressure in the second half.

Jeremy DeBruce led the Packers in scoring with 11 points.

James Trimble and Andrew Wallace each had nine and Antwan Tuff and Orion Ponder each had four points.

Regardless of how the Packers do today against Lowndes, they will play on the road against a team from Region 2-AAAAA on Friday.

If the Packers win today and finish No. 3, they will play at the Region 2-AAAAA runner-up.

If they lose today, they will play the Region 2-AAAAA champion on the road.

Region 2-AAAAA will determine its champion and runner-up tonight in the finals of its tournament at Douglass High.

Houston County could be a handful for the Blue Devils tonight.

The Bears led by 14 at the half and had little trouble in knocking off Lowndes in Friday’s early game. Houston is led by Jamal Brunson, Reggie Pero, three-year starter Avery Wright and Georgia football signee Quintin Banks.