East Limestone's Dezmon Jefferson puts up a shot in the Northwest Regional semifinal Saturday. Jefferson scored 18 points in the Indians' 54-45 victory over Fairfield.

East Limestone hadn’t been to a regional final in more than 20 years, but the Indians put an end to that streak with a 54-45 victory over Fairfield in the Class 5A Northwest Regional tournament semifinal Saturday evening.

The Indians will play Wenonah at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday in the regional final at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville. It is the first time since the 1996-97 season the Indians have advanced to the regional final. Wenonah is the No. 1-ranked team in Class 5A.

East Limestone’s defense was outstanding as usual, with the Indians holding Fairfield to just 12 points in the first half. Dezmon Jefferson was the key player offensively, scoring 13 of his team-high 18 points in the first half as East built a 24-12 halftime lead.

Austin Harvell added 14 points to go along with seven rebounds, and JaKeese Erskine tallied 10 points. East Limestone was able to hold a potential Fairfield rally off in the second half in part to making their free throws. East shot 72 percent from the free-throw line for the game.

East only attempted 28 shots in the game, but made 15 of them, for a 53-percent shooting percentage, while Fairfield was held to just 29 percent shooting in the game.