Dimond hadn't beaten the East boys, the Cook Inlet Conference champions, in two regular season meetings before they met in the Class 4A state semifinals. The Lynx won when it counted.
Dimond rallied to defeat the Thunderbirds 68-57 Friday at the Alaska Airlines Center.
Dimond will play Juneau, which won on a buzzer beater over Ketchikan, in the championship at 8 p.m. Saturday. Josh Fosi powered the Lynx with 28 points, going 6 of 13 from beyond the arc.
"East is such a good team and has been a good team for a long time," Dimond coach Brad Lauwers said. "We have not had good luck with them although we played them tough. We just felt like if we were gonna beat them one time, this would be the time to do it.
"I'm pretty thrilled for these guys — they've worked really hard."
East jumped out early with a 17-10 lead after the first quarter and a 35-28 advantage at halftime.
Then, the tide started shifting in the third quarter as Dimond closed the gap. Fosi nailed a trey at the third-quarter buzzer to give the Lynx a 51-48 lead heading into the final quarter.
East responded with bucket by Alec Canete-Hall (10 points) and a 3-pointer by Moses Miller (5) to retake the lead.
Dimond countered with two more Fosi 3-pointers, which preceded one of the pivotal moments of the game.
Fosi, again with the ball, drove to rim and drew a foul on Marquis White of the Thunderbirds. The senior fouled out of the game with 16 points and also received a technical foul.
Fosi made 3 of 4 free throws and extended the Lynx lead to seven points at 60-53 with just under two minutes remaining.
Doan Jones led East with 20 points and some late layups, but the Thunderbirds couldn't recover in the final minutes.
"That was a big play at the end when we drew the foul, it was the fifth foul (for White), he went out of the game, he got a technical foul (and) we had our best foul shooter taking 3 out of 4," Lauwers said. "It was a big boost. I'm going to credit our guys for keeping their poise."
Dimond will face a tall Juneau team in the championship. The Lynx last won the state title in 2012.
"Teams have had them down but they haven't put them out," Lauwers said of Juneau. "So we're going to try to be the team that puts them out."
Juneau, Tompkins beat buzzer against Ketchikan
The basketball gods must be smiling upon the Juneau boys basketball team.
For the second straight game, Juneau came from behind to win in the final seconds, this time beating Southeast rival Ketchikan 42-40 Friday for a spot in the 4A state championship Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center.
Juneau had taken a late lead, but a 3-pointer by Ketchikan's Matt Standley tied the game at 40-40 with eight seconds remaining.
Juneau's Kaleb Tompkins received the inbounds pass and dribbled down the court, twice almost losing control of the basketball. He corralled the ball each time he lost it, sliced into the lane and put up a jumper on the money as time expired. The Crimson Bears rushed the floor to celebrate their title game berth with Tompkins at midcourt.
"One of the things with Kaleb, he's got a great head for the game, he's a student of the game, he understands things really well," Juneau coach Robert Casperson said. "He released that ball at the exact precise moment. He knew how much time he had. He didn't panic when he had that ball knocked away."
Tompkins didn't just hit the game-winner, he put the Crimson Bears on his back in the fourth quarter. He scored Juneau's final 12 points, including back-to-back treys that tied the game at with 3:32 remaining.
"He finished with 22 (points), so kept us in it," Casperson said. "He's done that for us at times — put us on his back and carried us when we need him too. He's a very unselfish player."
In the first half, Juneau struggled shooting the ball. The Crimson Bears shot a measly 23 percent from the floor to Ketchikan's 47 percent, but they only trailed by four, 21-17.
"We got great looks right at the rim and they didn't roll in for us," Casperson said of his team's first-half shooting. "While we didn't make the shots, it still gave us the confidence that we could keep getting good shots, so we didn't feel down on ourselves."
Both teams struggled with foul trouble throughout the game with a combined 34 fouls committed. Juneau's leading scorer in the Thursday's quarterfinals, Bryce Swofford, fouled out in the critical closing minutes of the fourth quarter. Point guard Treyson Ramos was also in foul trouble for much of the game with four.
For Ketchikan, Nathan Bonck and Matt Standley each finished with four fouls, and Jason James — arguably the King's best player — missed most of the first half with two early fouls.
Standley's nine points led the Kings, who failed to get a player in double figures. James had six.
The state semifinals matchup was the sixth game of the season between two teams from Southeast. The teams split the regular four regular season contests and Juneau barely held off a huge Ketchikan comeback in the conference tournament.
Saturday, Juneau will try for its first state championship since 1998.
"At this point in the season, I don't think we haven't had a situation they haven't experienced," Casperson said. "I'm just really excited we get this chance to go play in the championship tomorrow against (Dimond)."