Matt Barela was standing on the Perez-Shelley Memorial Gymnasium floor 13 months ago when a Sandia Prep player was fouled in the final second of a tie game, giving him three free-throw attempts.

That player, Roberto Martinez, missed all three. Barela and the St. Michael's Horsemen eventually won in overtime.

When Barela was fouled at the final buzzer of Thursday's District 5AAA Tournament semifinal against those same Sundevils, he couldn't help but think about what Martinez went through.

"That definitely went through my mind," Barela said. "I still think about that game."

What Martinez couldn't do, Barela did.

Sent to the line with no time left and no one allowed to stand in the lane, he hit the first of what should have been two foul shots to hand St. Michael's a dramatic 44-43 win. The referees didn't allow Barela to take the second attempt since there was no time left on the clock.

The win sends St. Michael's (21-6) into Saturday night's district championship game in Albuquerque against top-ranked Hope Christian. The Huskies have won all four meetings between the two since they were aligned into 5AAA prior to last season.

"This wasn't our best effort, but a win's a win, and we have to be happy about it," said Horsemen senior Antonio Garcia. "Us playing Hope, we're close. We're the Horsemen. We're not intimidated by anyone, so we'll be ready."

It was the play of Garcia and Barela down the stretch that got St. Michael's a trip to the finals. The pair combined to score 13 of their team's final 15 points, including the last 11. Barela was particularly clutch in the waning moments as he hit a pair of free throws with eight seconds left to tie the game at 43, then had a steal that led to the final shot.

Sandia Prep (17-11) led by as many as eight points in the fourth quarter and was in front for all but four minutes the entire game. The Sundevils did commit 20 turnovers, but they shot better than 50 percent from the field to stay on top most of the night.

Conversely, the Horsemen finished the game 13-for-40 from the floor and were outbrebounded 26-18.

"We made four of [17] shots in the first half, we had some bad turnovers, they made their shots and we were only down seven [points] at halftime," said Ron Geyer, Horsemen head coach. "I'd say we felt good about that. We weren't playing well, and we were still in it."

Barela finished with a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds. Garcia had 10, six of which came in the final five minutes. Jeff Groenewold had seven, but the Horsemen bench combined for just three points and three rebounds.

The win, Barela conceded, wasn't so much about stats as it was pure determination.

"The way we played, it just took extra effort there at the end," he said.

"It wasn't Horsemen basketball," Garcia added.

And thankfully for Barela, it wasn't a repeat of what Sandia Prep endured last season.

Contact Will Webber at 986-3060 or wwebber@sfnewmexican.com