For much of Tuesday night’s sub-regional game, Lindsay Lane’s Tommy Murr played facilitator. The state’s leading scorer delivered pinpoint passes to his teammates, who for the most part, converted either at the rim or from 3-point range.

But when the game was on the line in the fourth quarter, Murr did what he does best. He took over offensively, scoring 17 points in the final quarter to lead the Lions to a 79-70 victory over Woodville and a spot in the Northeast Regional tournament.

It is the first time the Lions (18-13) have advanced to the regional, which will be played at Jacksonville State University. Lindsay Lane will play Spring Garden at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.

“This is probably our biggest win ever,” Murr said. “We’ve never been this far, so it’s exciting for our program. But man, it’s an unbelievable feeling.”

Murr scored just 16 points in the first half, but had six assists as the Lions built a 36-29 halftime lead. Eighth-grader Amar Fuqua came up big in the first half, nearly matching Murr’s total with 11 points. Fuqua finished the game with 14 points.

“Amar did a great job,” Lindsay Lane coach Steve Murr said. “He’s got a lot of potential. For an eighth-grader to be out there on that stage and perform as well as he did, that’s huge.”

Lindsay Lane held Woodville at bay in the third quarter and went into the fourth quarter with a 51-46 lead. Murr scored two quick baskets, including a 3-pointer, to push the Lions’ lead out to 56-48, but Woodville went on a quick 9-2 run to close the gap to 58-57 with 6:08 remaining.

However, Murr drilled a pull-up 3-pointer just seconds later to kill Woodville’s momentum. When Charlie Morrison drained a 3-pointer of his own 30 seconds after that, Lindsay Lane had a seven-point lead.

Woodville never got closer than five points the remainder of the game. Murr finished the game with 43 points, while Morrison scored 16.

“In the first half, I felt Woodville was keying more on me, which allowed my teammates to get open. They did a great job of getting open and I was able to find them,” Tommy Murr said. “Then in the fourth quarter, they had to respect my teammates, and that allowed me lanes to score and some open shots to take.”

The game was played in front of a standing-room only crowd at Lindsay Lane’s gym, which Steve Murr said gave the players a huge boost.

“It was fun to come in tonight about an hour before the game started, and see we were already almost to capacity,” he said. “When our fans and students get involved, it makes it so much more fun. It’s encouraging for these guys who have worked hard all year. For them to see a big crowd cheering them on means a lot.”