Mikael Foust turned his team's blown opportunity into a game-winning play for Little Rock Fair on Friday night.

Foust, the War Eagles' 6-0 junior guard, came up with a steal at midcourt and drove in for a layup with 1.6 seconds remaining to give Fair a 54-52 victory over Mills in front of a full house in the Jammin' for Jackets semifinals at George Cirks Arena.

Prior to Foust's steal, Fair had turned the ball over with 9.5 seconds left when senior Kris Bankston was tied up under the basket by Mills forward Kaevon Jones. The Comets got the ball on the alternating possession, but they no sooner had moved the ball past the midcourt line when Foust swatted the ball away from Mills guard Quawn Marshall.

"I was just trying not to lose the ball and miss the layup," said Foust, who finished with 8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. "It was the biggest moment of my life and the scariest moment of my life."

As it turned out, Foust's fears were unfounded. He gained control of the ball in front of the three-point line before hitting the layup at full speed.

"Both teams played so well it's a shame the game came down to something like that," Fair Coach Charlie Johnson said. "That's just the way things are. We just happened to be on the winning end."

Junior Daeveon Bankston wound up as the War Eagles' leading scorer, scoring all 21 of his points in the second half -- 12 on three-pointers -- as Fair (7-1) rallied from a 26-21 halftime deficit. Kris Bankston added 11 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 steals. Senior Khyron Gilbert scored all 10 of his points in the first half.

But it was Foust -- a nonstarter -- who received the hero's welcome at the end of the game.

"My teammates rally around each other," said Foust, who credited junior Kam Stafford for turning Marshall into a position to where Foust could make the steal. "Kam led him to the middle, and it gave me the perfect opportunity to go for the steal."

"Mikael does a lot for us," Johnson said. "If I could just make him understand what his role is, he's going to be a good player. I love the boy to death. That's why I'm on him so hard because he has a chance to be a really good player. He came through for us tonight. He played well, but all of them did."

Mills Coach Raymond Cooper said his team failed to follow the game plan.

"We took the game plan and just threw it out the window," Cooper said. "We've gotten away with that before tonight, but we've played in spurts all year long. We'll get teams down, then we'll let them come back. We don't focus throughout the game. We make too many mental errors. We miss block-out assignments. We make too many silly turnovers. It finally caught up with us."

University of Arkansas signee Darius Hall and junior guard Grehlon Easter each scored 12 points to lead Mills (5-1).

Fair will play defending champion Little Rock Parkview in tonight's championship game.

"I've never won it before, and I've never even been to the finals before," Johnson said. "Hey, I'm just glad to be in it."