For a long time Friday night, it looked like the River City Thunder’s trip to Dallas would end in the same frustrating way as last year’s.

Five minutes, one big comeback and a huge basket later, they were celebrating and making plans to stay around for the weekend.

Shaunterrence Walton hit a go-ahead layup with 10 seconds left, and the Thunder rallied from a 10-point deficit with five minutes remaining to beat the Dallas Warriors 46-45 in the championship bracket of the Primetime Sports Basketball National Championship AAU tournament.

The Thunder, an AAU team comprised of players from Warren County high schools, advanced to the face DBA White in another elimination game today at 11:40 a.m.

The Thunder went 2-1 in pool play to advance to the single-elimination, 36-team championship round. It still needs to win two more games today and three on Sunday to win the tournament, but Friday’s thrilling finish gave it plenty of momentum heading into the weekend.

“Man, we are ecstatic about reaching Saturday,” Thunder coach Julius Cosby said. “While being kept down in the second half, the kids kept saying they weren’t ready to go home. So they proved that in their efforts. They are walking with a little swag right now, knowing they still haven’t played their best game.”

Friday night’s game seemed far from it. The Thunder trailed most of the way, and were down 45-35 with five minutes to go.

Coming out of a timeout, Quan Woods scored on a lob to cut it to eight and the Thunder was soon rolling. Walton hit a 3-pointer and two free throws, then Jesse Wilson hit a floater in the lane to make it 45-44.

With 10 seconds to go, Trey Warren came up with a steal and fed it ahead to Walton, who dropped in the layup for the lead.

The Warriors got off a desperation three-quarters court heave that hit off the backboard as time expired.

“I feel like it was the kind of game that really shows you who you are as a person and a team,” Cosby said. “We toughed it out, and now it feels like we’re rolling on a downhill ride.”