To hear Cole Erikson tell it, in his “aw, shucks” kind of way, hoisting that last shot against Cedarcrest was nothing spectacularly special.

But, oh, how it was.

Erikson drilled a three-pointer with five seconds left in the game to lift the Falcons over the Red Wolves 62-59 earlier this week.

The tie-breaking, seal-the-deal basket pushed South Whidbey to a third-place tie with Lakewood among the Cascade Conference’s 2A teams. The top three 2A teams will advance to the District 1 playoffs; Cedarcrest is currently in the top spot, followed by Archbishop Murphy.

“I didn’t really think of it as a last-second shot,” Erikson recalled. “It felt like a normal shot I take in practice. At the time, I didn’t think about it that much. When I was shooting, it felt like any other shot.”

The game-winning shot — Erikson’s only score of the game — came at the close of a back-and-forth battle.

Cedarcrest jumped out to a 15-10 lead after the first quarter, and still led at the half.

“We were down five at halftime and came out with a rockin’ third quarter and played some fierce defense,” said Falcon coach Chris Ferrier. “Our pressure really got to their guards.”

“In the fourth quarter, we got a little rattled and frazzled and turned the ball over a couple times, but we got ourselves in a situation to win with 20 seconds to go,” Ferrier said.

The coach called for a timeout and set up a play for Riley Newman to take the shot.

“Riley made a tremendous play, drew the defense to him, and kicked the ball out to Cole who had a clean, straight-on look at a three that he buried,” Ferrier said.

Cedarcrest called two timeouts with five seconds left, hoping for an answer.

“But our five guys refused to allow the Red Wolves’ three shooters to get a clean look at a three, leaving one of Cedarcrest’s post guys to shoot it,” Ferrier said, and the game ended with South Whidbey still on top by three.

Ferrier praised the tremendous effort and teamwork displayed by South Whidbey.

Erikson, as well, pointed to the hustle of his fellow Falcons.

He said the team’s defense and rebounding were key, and said the Falcons needed to counter Cedarcrest’s style of play: a fast-paced game with a lot of shots.

And he said the team remembered a heartbreaking loss earlier in the season, caused by a last-second shot, and said the Falcons played to the end.

“We realized that we couldn’t start celebrating yet,” Erikson said.

Newman led all scorers with 19 points. Jordan Thornley added another 16 points for South Whidbey, while Tyler “Chuck” Norris and Sean George contributed six each, and Shelby Ball finished with four. Ben Cary and Harrison Price added three each, and Jordan Dibble dropped in two.

Daniel Campbell paced Cedarcrest with 13 points.

South Whidbey moved to 4-5 in the league with the win; 6-9 overall. Cedarcrest dropped to 6-4 in the Cascade Conference, 9-7 overall.

“We’re in decent shape for the playoffs, but we need to take care of Sultan,” Ferrier said.

South Whidbey was scheduled to play Sultan on Friday, followed by a double-header at home on Tuesday, Feb. 9, against King’s. The boys team will play at 5:15, followed by the girls’ game at 7 p.m.