Perplexed, a gentleman seated in the top row presumably rooting for Benilde-St. Margaret's let out several long sighs of relief.

"Whoo -- I do not know how we got out of that one," he said.

He would receive no argument from anyone in an over-capacity crowd at Spring Lake Park on Friday.

The Red Knights boys' basketball team escaped with a victory.

Down by as many as eight in the second half, Class 3A, No. 1 Benilde-St. Margaret's staved off a brilliant performance by Spring Lake Park senior Sean Scott to win 67-65 over the No. 2 Panthers.

"I had faith the whole way even though this was one of our worst games all year," Red Knights coach John Moore said. "We managed. Everyone was frustrated, [but] it came down to about 12 seconds and all of it went away."

Actually, more like the final 80 seconds. That's what it took for Benilde-St. Margaret's (17-1) to score the final seven points and pull off a jaw-dropper.

Sanjay Lumpkin made the front end of a two-shot trip to the free-throw line, then watched Isaiah Gray put back his miss on the second attempt to pull the Red Knights to within 65-63. After a traveling call on the Panthers (16-2), BSM's Isaiah Zierden knocked down two free throws to tie the score with a minute remaining.

A miss by Scott on the Panthers' next possession -- uncharacteristic on this night -- gave Benilde-St. Margaret's the ball back with 40 seconds left.

"I didn't even have to call a timeout; our guys knew we were taking the last shot," Moore said.

The plan was to get the ball to Zierden at the top of the lane for a game-winning look. But instead, Gray saw Lumpkin wide open under the hoop, and the senior connected on the bunny with 2.6 seconds remaining for the last of his team-high 25 points.

"Just crazy," Lumpkin said. "We pulled through in the end, and that's all that matters."

The final play ruined a fantastic night for Scott. He finished with 36 points -- 10 above his average -- and six blocks. He scored all but four of Spring Lake Park's 25 second-half points.

He and Lumpkin shared a man-hug after the game.

"See you at state," Scott said.