It was a battle that came down to the final seconds, but Pleasant Home was able to knock off Florala 29-27 on Wednesday in Florala to advance to the Covington County Junior High basketball championship.

Pleasant Home went up to start the game when Mason Anderson connected on a layup.

Florala answered back and then a bucket from the Wildcats’ John Howell put Florala up 4-2.

Straughn fought back and tied the game 6-6 heading into the second period.

John Hawkins got the scoring started in the second period to put Pleasant Home up 8-6.

Both teams continued to battle and Pleasant Home went up 13-10 at halftime.

In the third period, Pleasant Home got a layup from Gatewood to start the frame.

Howell followed with a layup for Florala, but then Pleasant Home began to inch away from the Wildcats.

Gatewood connected on a 3-pointer to help give Pleasant Home a 23-14 lead heading into the final period.

Florala opened up the fourth with back-to-back buckets from Johan Zamora and then a basket from Howell to cut the Pleasant Home lead down to 23-20.

A few minutes later, Florala cut it to one and then took a 26-25 lead with 1:32 left in the game.

Pleasant Home regained the lead with 1:11 left and never let the Wildcats back on top.

“It’s a new slate when you have the Covington County tournament and everyone is one equal ground,” Pleasant Home head coach Fred Kelley said. “We were fortunate and humbled to be able to win and advance on to the finals.”

Pleasant Home will take on Straughn tonight at 6 for the eighth grade championship game in Florala.