DECATUR — Northeast Lauderdale’s four-year reign in the East Central Classic ended Friday night with a 49-48 loss to Morton in the closing seconds of the semifinal contest.

In the other semifinal, Newton built a 14-point lead over the first three quarters and held on for a 64-59 win over Scott Central.

Tonight’s championship contest is set for 8:15 p.m. In today’s other boys’ games, Newton County takes on Lake at 2:15 p.m. and Northeast faces Scott Central for third place at 5:15 p.m.

Morton boys 49

Northeast 48

Shelton Banks took an inbounds pass at midcourt with just under 10 seconds left and drove the lane for the tying basket and was fouled with 5.7 seconds left. Banks canned the go-ahead free throw and a pullup jumper just inside the free-throw line by Northeast’s Rodney Brooks at the horn wouldn’t go down.

“I can’t believe he made that call,” said Northeast head coach Lewis Lightsey of the late foul. “You take the game out of the kids’ hands when you make that call.

“I give Morton a lot of credit. They made the shots and made the plays. But I’m very proud of my kids. They battled and competed. We weren’t supposed to be here. I’m very happy, I just can’t believe he made that call.”

Northeast trailed 26-15 at halftime and 36-29 to start the fourth quarter. The Trojans got to within 37-35 with 5:46 left on back-to-back 3-pointers by Michael Brown. Northeast went up 47-46 on a pair of free throws by Jamond Hill with 1:19 to go.

Northeast (2-4) got 11 points from Brown, nine from Brooks, eight from Sam Hudnall, and six from Namon Cooley.

Morton (6-1) got 13 points from Banks, 10 from Derrell Taylor, nine from Willie Readus, and eight from Chris McClendon.

Newton 64

Scott Central 59

Newton jumped out to a 52-38 lead over the first three quarters in winning the rematch of last year’s Class 2A state championship. The Tigers took a 32-20 lead into halftime of the battle of Division 5-2A rivals.

Keondre Hodges scored 15 points in the third quarter in leading Newton (3-3) with 23 points. The Tigers also got 12 points from Dominique Williams and 10 from Dwayne Bingham.

Scott Central (2-2) got 23 points from Kent McKee, 17 from Xavier Triplett, and nine from Cordell Jackson.