Jamestown's boys earned the No. 1 seed in Class AA and will not play until a semifinal Wednesday, March 2 at Buffalo State College. P-J file photo

Twelve years ago, a young man by the name of Jaysean Paige drilled a 3-point shot in the closing moments of a holiday tournament championship game to help Jamestown secure a victory at McElrath Gymnasium.

Hitting dramatic treys must run in the family.

Sean Paige, the younger brother of the now-G League standout, connected from distance with 50 seconds remaining Saturday afternoon to help rally the Red Raiders to a 58-56 victory over Lancaster in an Erie County Interscholastic Conference Division 1 clincher at “The Mac.”

“That was a huge shot,” Jamestown coach Ben Drake said. “I thought Sean gave us some good minutes, had a couple of nice finishes and was aggressive on offense. … He was open. Give him credit, he didn’t hesitate and he knocked it down.”

Jamestown, which had already secured the top seed in the Section VI Class AA playoffs, improved to 16-2 overall and 13-0 in the division and, most importantly, is now the outright league champion.

“I honestly didn’t know what to expect this year,” Drake said. “We graduated seniors last year that played a lot of minutes for several years. … This group has been a pleasure to coach, they’ve been coachable and they’re hard workers. They just play really hard.”

But as has often been the case this season, it wasn’t a thing of beauty.

This time it was the Legends who gave the Red Raiders all they could handle.

In fact, Lancaster (8-10, 7-6) led 11-0 four minutes into the game and 52-47 with just under two minutes remaining following back-to-back makes from distance by Channing Francis and Joe Harrington.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Jamestown’s signature defensive pressure got them back in the game.

The rally began when Jaral Farmer made one of two free throws with 1:47 left. On the miss, teammate Jaylen Butera secured the offensive rebound and scored on a putback. The Legends immediately committed a turnover that resulted in a Farmer layup, which tied the game 52-all with 1:30 left. The Red Raiders capitalized on yet another Lancaster turnover when Farmer scored again from close range, putting them in front 54-52.

Ryan Corcoran’s 3-pointer temporarily halted Jamestown’s momentum and gave the Legends a 55-54 lead, but Paige promptly drilled the bomb from the left corner to put the hosts in front, 57-55, with 50 seconds remaining.

There was plenty of drama the rest of the way, too.

After Noah Kimble of Lancaster and Trey Drake of Jamestown both made a free throw to keep the margin at two, Lancaster had multiple chances to tie the game or pull off the upset, but came up just short as Francis missed two free throws with 3.4 seconds left and his 3-point shot at the buzzer was off the mark.

“I’m proud of the resiliency we showed,” Coach Drake said. “(Lancaster) hit those back-to-back 3s and things weren’t looking so good at that point. Give them credit. We got steals in the press and turned them into layups, and that got us right back into it.”

Farmer led the Red Raiders with 20 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks; Butera and Trey Drake added 11 points apiece; and Paige chipped in 8. Andre Maple scored only 3 points, but was the defensive catalyst in the second quarter when Jamestown outscored the Legends 21-10 to take a 30-23 lead at the break.

“I’m sure that had to be a great game to watch,” Coach Drake said. “Both teams really made a lot of plays there in the fourth quarter.”

Francis led Lancaster with 18 points, 13 in the second half; Harrington had 12, Corcoran chipped in11 and Jack Harrington added 10.

NOTES: The Red Raiders will be back in action Tuesday when they entertain Clarence. The varsity game is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. They conclude the regular season Thusday when they take on Erie (Pennsylvania) High, also at 7:45 p.m.

LANCASTER (56)

Francis 5 6 18, JaHarrington 3 0 6, Corcoran 5 0 11, Kimble 3 2 9, JoHarrington 4 3 12, Totals 20 11 56.

JAMESTOWN (58)

Farmer 8 4 20, Paige 3 1 8, Brumagin 1 0 3, Freeney 0 0 0, Drake 4 3 11, Butts 1 0 2, Butera 4 3 11, Maple 1 0 3, Totals 22 11 58.

3-point goals — Francis 2, Corcoran, Kimble, JoHarrington, Paige, Brumagin, Maple.

Lancaster 13 10 10 23 — 56

Jamestown 9 21 7 21 — 58

Jayvees: Lancaster won.