Five minutes defined a classic.

The brief span of time came during the Gary Filbert Classic at Mexico High School’s Sports Complex on Saturday. And the contestants had slowly been building to the frantic finish since the tip.

That the Trojans edged Harrisburg 40-35 at the buzzer when the game hung in the balance moments earlier had to do with a steal, a miss and a big play.

The steal came on Harrisburg’s end of the court. Community R6 committed three to a trap and forced a loose ball. Breanna Beamer anticipated a turnover and took off down the court, scooping up the ball along the way.

“When I got the steal, I was going pretty quick,” she said.

With less than a minute on the clock and a slim 1-point lead, Beamer charged toward the rim, only to be hammered by the Bulldogs’ Hailey Emanuel. Ushered to the line with the opportunity to give Community a cushion, Beamer missed both.

But Alexis Welch bulled her way into the paint, grabbed the rebound and put it up for two.

“That was big,” Beamer observed.

Two minutes earlier, with Community clinging to a single point advantage, Welch had muscled into the paint for a crucial score. Her baskets in the waning moments, along with a put back by Emmi Johnson after Harrisburg had grabbed a 35-34 lead, secured the Trojans win.

“I just knew we needed a quick basket,” Welch said. “I had to do what we needed to be done.”

The Trojans acted from the tip as if they would control the outcome. Behind Welch, Johnson and Emma Hombs, they pulled away 14-8 in the first period. At the half they still maintained a 26-22 advantage.

“That first 10 minutes I thought that we’d get the lead,” observed Trojans head coach Bob Curtis. “We were playing well.”

But the Bulldogs clawed back two in the second and another point in the third. Heading into the final quarter, it was a 3-point game. And that quickly narrowed when Harrisburg’s Carli Ellis rolled in a lay up with 5:28 to go to make it a 32-31 affair.

Both sides cooled off. The Trojans missed four from the line. And with just under 3:00 to play, Welch hit the first of her two game savers.

Two and a half minutes were on the clock when Harrisburg swapped the lead for the first time in the game. Brecca Thornhill connected from just inside the arc and Baylie Combs sank a couple of free throws.

Suddenly the Bulldogs were up 35-34.

But Welch made her put back. And when Harrisburg tried to yank it back, Sarah Angel stole the ball and fed Shelby Clark to seal the win.

“I feel like I needed to make plays on defense,” said Angel, normally a prolific scorer who was limited to 2 points on the night.

Welch put in 14 to lead the Trojans. Hombs dropped 8 and Johnson added 6. Beamer knocked down 4, while Sarah Angel, Emma Angel and Clark contributed 2 each.

Yet the coach also played a major part in the win. Just over a minute remained and the game was in the balance when Community lost control of the ball on their end. Before Harrisburg could corral the bounding sphere, Curtis called a time out.

A few seconds later Welch recorded her put back.

“If we could save possession, that’s critical,” Curtis said. “It was a really good win for us. I’m happy to survive.”

Community R-6 heads into a Tuesday night home game against Van-Far undefeated.