GODFREY — They were left for dead halfway through the fourth quarter with their season hanging in the balance. But the Alton Redbirds somehow lifted themselves from the ashes, turned sure defeat into victory and kept their season alive in dramatic fashion.

Senior Marcus Latham’s putback and three-point play with 1 minute, 24 seconds remaining gave Alton it’s second lead since the first quarter, and the third-seeded Redbirds ended the game on a 13-0 run to stun second-seeded Quincy 66-62 Friday night in the championship game of the Alton Class 4A Regional at Alton High School.

The Redbirds (15-10), who trailed most of the game, move on to the Collinsville Sectional Tuesday where they’ll play the top-seeded Edwardsville Tigers at Vergil FletcherGymnasium. The Tigers outlasted Belleville East 67-60 to win the East St. Louis Regional.

The Redbirds, who trailed by as many as 13 (53-40) late in the third quarter, were down 62-53 with 4:11 remaining in the game. That’s when it was a do-or-die effort that brought the game and the house down.

Alton got key baskets, including a crucial steal and dunk from Maurice Edwards — who led all scorers with 24 points — that cut Alton’s deficit to three at 62-59 with 2:59 remaining.

And after Kevin Caldwell Jr. missed the second of a one-and-one, Edwards kept the loose ball alive, got it to Latham, and he drove the left baseline, scored and was fouled on the play with 1:24 remaining. His free throw put the Redbirds up for good at 63-62.

“Maurice did a real good job of saving the ball,” said Latham, who finished with 12 points, six in the fourth quarter. “He got it to me and I seen an open lane and I went in and took it. It paid off.”

The Blue Devils, whose season came to stunning end at 21-6, missed a pair of chances at go-ahead baskets before Latham hit a pair of free throws with 17.3 seconds remaining.

The Blue Devils’ Mike Dade, who led Quincy with 19 points, and Jake Jobe, who had 11 points, missed on potential game-tying 3-pointers before Edwards iced the game with 1.4 seconds left by knocking down one of two free throws.

“We thought it from the beginning,” Quincy coach Andy Douglas said. “You’ve got to have your players’ confidence that they’re going to come in and win. I don’t know if that was the case at times in their careers, but it certainly was now. You have to have that mentality and that mindset. I think it showed through the first three quarters. The fourth quarter just came back to bite us a little bit.”

Said Alton coach Eric Smith: “We’ve got some special kids. We’ve been talking about it all year long how good our kids are. We’ve had some ups and downs. That was pretty special.

“It’s one of the most gratifying (wins) because we knew these kids had an opportunity to do something kind of special. They’re good players. … When it comes down to it, we think we’ve got some pretty good kids and pretty good players. We feel like we’ve got a shot any night we go out.”

Quincy built an lead early by withstanding Alton’s up-tempo style. The Blue Devils seemed to have an answer each time the Redbirds would make a push by making clutch shots. But in the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils, who were 25 of 58 for the game, made only 4 of 16 shots.

Reach Louie Korac at telegraphsports@hotmail.com