Yesterday, however, Timber Creek rewrote its history.

Marquise Smith launched a 25-foot three-pointer from the left wing that rattled through the net with two seconds left to lift the Chargers over host Shawnee, 58-55, in a South Jersey Group 3 semifinal.

The win catapulted the Chargers (19-9) into their first sectional championship game, and they will face the Hammonton/Deptford winner in the finals at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Eastern.

"I felt I had to take the shot," said Smith, who was just 3 for 13 from the field before swishing his final three field-goal attempts, including the game-winner. "I was nervous, but you can't be afraid to shoot it."

The final play, set up by a five-second call on Shawnee with 12.1 seconds left, wasn't intended to be the three-pointer.

"I wanted to attack with the dribble because I didn't think they'd foul us in that situation," Chargers coach Tim Dunne said. "But Marquise said he felt good and let it fly."

Smith's shot capped a frenetic finish to what was a fairly nondescript game for three quarters. Timber Creek trailed by as many as seven points in the first half but took a 26-23 lead into halftime. The Chargers stretched the margin to 14 in the third quarter and were up 11 going to the fourth.

But Shawnee (19-9) started the final quarter on an 15-4 run to tie it, 47-47, on Eric Kessler's free throw.

After Tyler Hines (16 points, 14 rebounds) and Jameer Briggs hit layups for Timber Creek, Doug Holcombe (game-high 20 points) drilled a three-pointer.

With the score tied at 51, Timber Creek's Smith made a short jumper and Briggs converted a layup to make it 55-51. Then Shawnee's Holcombe made two free throws, and Kessler (16 points, 6 rebounds) converted a spinning layup with 27 seconds left to tie the score one more time.

Then, Shawnee drew a charge on the inbounds play, but was whistled for the five-second violation moments later.

"We had the ball for the last shot, but unfortunately we didn't get that last shot," Shawnee coach Joe Kessler said.

Timber Creek 13 13 17 15 - 58

Shawnee 17 6 9 23 - 55

TC: Tyler Hines 16, Marquise Smith 14, Collin Johnson 10, Jameer Biggs 7, Rodney Parrish 5, Mike Rose 4, Montez Blair 2.

S: Doug Holcombe 20, Eric Kessler 16, Ben Simms 7, Tom Molina 5, Joe Bodnar 3, Gary Devine 2, Dillon Fields 2.