LEXINGTON — Storm sophomore point guard Phillip Williams is a confident young man. On Friday at a team meal, he asked coach Matt Ridge what time the bus would be leaving on Tuesday for the national tournament in Delhi, NY.

The only problem with his question was that Davidson County Community College had to get through Montgomery College-Germantown in Saturday’s NJCAA District 7 Division III Championship game at Brinkley Gym to earn that trip. Williams backed up his prediction, though, scoring 18 second half points to lead DCCC by the Gryphons, 85-83.

“No words can explain this — it’s just unbelievable,” Williams said. “I knew somehow I needed to find a way to get us to New York.”

Ridge was visibly exhausted afterwards, in one of the toughest games his team has played all season.

“I feel like I have been through a 12-round fight and got knocked down 15 times,” said Ridge. “I love these guys to death and they have refused to lose this year. We made plays down the stretch and Phillip just willed us to victory.”

Davidson trailed 74-71 with 3:30 left, but with the help of Williams and key baskets by his teammates, the Storm found a way like they have all season long.

A 10-0 run put the home team in prime position leading by seven as the clock wound down to two minutes. In two possessions, that was quickly dwindled down to a single bucket on a scoop shot by the Gryphons’ Stephen Griffin and trey from the wing by Justin Bess.

The game became tied at 81-all on a step-back jumper by Donald Williams, and the finish was setting up to be a good one.

“We were up seven and all of a sudden it was tied,” said Ridge. They had no quit in them either.”

Phillip Williams willed his way to a foul in the lane and made both free throws, then a miss at the other end was taken by the Storm and Justin Glover (24 points) connected on two at the charity stripe.

Bess rebounded a miss for two at the other end to make it 84-83, but with .2 seconds left, Glover made the first free throw and intentionally missed the second to end the game.

“We are going to enjoy the heck out of this one until probably midnight, then we are going back to work and looking forward to leaving Tuesday,” concluded Ridge.

DCCC had one of those ‘too good to be true’ moments at the onset of the game, racing out to an 18-4 lead five minutes into the game. A talented bunch like the Gryphons just needed to get their feet wet.

“I knew how good they were and that they would come back at us,” said Ridge. “Once you get to this time of year everybody you play is good and expects to win.”

Montgomery did come back, taking the lead on a Griffin leaner in the paint to hold a 33-32 edge. The guests led 41-34 at the half, but that was cut down to 47-46 three minutes into the second half. It would stay close to the finish.

Notes: DCCC made 34 free throws compared to Montgomery’s 12 ... Donald Williams scored a team-high 24 points to lead the Gryphons ... Rico Geter and Eric Potts finished in double figures for the Storm with 16 and 10 points, respectively ... DCCC is 29-4 on the year while the Gryphons end their season at 21-9.