There was no fourth-quarter letdown this time around, much to the delight of Preston head coach Tyler Jones.

Instead, Preston finished strong against a talented opponent two days after blowing a 10-point lead midway through the fourth quarter. Preston went on a 7-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters to extend its advantage to 13 points and never looked back en route to a 65-50 road victory over Pocatello in the championship game of the 4A Fifth District Boys Basketball Tournament on Saturday night.

It was a high stakes, winner-take-all showdown between two of the best teams in the 4A classification as only the district champion was awarded a spot at next week's state tournament. When the dust settled, it was top-seeded Preston that punched its ticket to state for the sixth straight year. The Franklin County Indians (17-7) have played in the last five 4A title games and have prevailed in four of them.

"We just talked a little bit after (Thursday's) game about, you know, 'you still have a chance, you've got to play through adversity and you've got two choices: go fight or be done,' and the kids responded," Jones said. "Like we have all year, we've had our ups and downs, but this team from Day 1 until now, they've come a long way and they've shown a lot of toughness and grit. And a lot of people didn't give us much of a chance this year with a whole new group (of players), and they've just gotten better and better as the season's gone on, and that's a tribute to them and how hard they've worked, how they've become a team throughout the season."

On the flip side, Poky was one win short of advancing to state for the second year in a row. Nevertheless, the Gate City Indians (17-8) have made tremendous strides during that timespan.

"I'm just proud of what this team did this year," Poky head coach Joe Green said. "It's unfortunate that we're not able to keep playing at the state tournament, but I think we're one of the best teams in the state and I'm just proud of our kids for what they accomplished this year."

Preston led nearly the entire game as third-seeded Poky had a brief advantage late in the second quarter. The visitors took a narrow 31-29 lead into the locker room and never trailed in the second half.

Gabe Hammons buried a trio of 3-pointers in the third quarter to help give Preston some breathing room, including back-to-back treys after Pocatello pared its deficit to 39-37 on a Julian Bowie 3-ball. Bowie drained another shot from downtown to pull Poky within six points at 49-43, but Preston responded with its aforementioned 7-0 spurt to take control for good.

"When you knock down shots like that, it's really a big momentum swing and it really gets you going," Hammons said of his big third quarter. "And once you get two or three of those tough shots to go down, you feel like you're on top of the world. And once you get your confidence, everything starts falling (it seems like)."

Hammons finished with a game-high 23 points for Preston two days after torching Poky for a career-high 28. Brecker Knapp chipped in with 12 points for Preston, which got 10 points from Cole Harris and nine from Braden Hess. Harris and Knapp combined for 20 rebounds for Preston, which outrebounded Poky 18-4 in the second half and by 20 in the contest.

"It takes everybody (to win a game like this) and a team effort, and I'm proud of them to bounce back after Thursday and to win the district championship," Jones said. "It's a great feeling."

The Franklin County Indians certainly got off to the start they were hoping for as they scored on their first five possessions and stormed out to a 11-3 lead. Steven Roberts and Harris teamed up for nine of those Preston points. Roberts contributed with five points and five boards in the opening quarter.

To their credit, the Gate City Indians were undaunted by that early deficit as they made some clutch shots to counter Preston's early surge. Bowie knocked down a pair 3-pointers in the first quarter and Ryan Payne converted on and-one opportunity for the hosts, who only trailed 17-13 after eight minutes of action.

Pocatello drilled seven 3-balls during the middle two quarters to stay within striking distance of Preston, but only made one shot from beyond the arc in the final quarter. Payne paced Poky with 17 points, followed by Bowie with 14.

Even though at wasn't the ending Pocatello was hoping for, it put together a phenomenal week just to be in this position. Poky dispatched of Century and Preston on the road to force Saturday's true championship game. Preston, Poky and Sky View (Utah) were the only teams to defeat Century on its home court this season. The silver lining for Pocatello is it will return four starters next season.

"Man, I just have a ton of faith in all of our guys and our program," Green said. "Our program's headed in the right direction for sure. I'm proud of those guys. Replacing our seniors is actually going to be really tough (though). Brevin Vaughan had over 100 deflections this year, which for a lot of people doesn't seem like a ton, but he was playing injured on a really hurt ankle that nobody knew about and not even practicing. So, the future's really, really bright and I'm excited about that, but replacing Brevin Vaughan and our other seniors is going to be tough."

As for Preston, it will square off against former district rival Twin Falls in the opening round of the eight-team 4A tournament next Thursday at noon at Rocky Mountain High School. The Indians played the Bruins twice in January and prevailed by scorelines of 64-56 and 63-52.

Having the opportunity to defend their state title is a noteworthy accomplishment for the Franklin County Indians when you consider they lost four of their starters and their first player off the bench. Having to survive the gauntlet of the 4A Fifth District made Preston's achievement even more meaningful.

"Oh, it was super competitive between all three teams," said Hammons, whose team went 3-0 against Century and 2-2 against Poky this winter. "Poky and Century were super good. If you look at Century, they've got super talented players. They've got Holt, they've got Fleishmann, they have players that can really affect the game, and same with Poky. Bowie and Payne are really dangerous, and just guarding those guys day in and day out throughout district play was super hard."