One thing went through Springfield senior Ryan Minney’s mind as he stepped to the free-throw line at Hamilton High School on Saturday night with 34 seconds left and his squad down one.

“I got to knock it down,” Minney said after hitting both free throws to give the Wildcats a 53-52 lead that became the final score. “We have fought back all this way; I got to come through.”

The Wildcats improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2010 but had to survive a wild final nine seconds.

Hamilton (1-1) got three open looks at the basket in that brief span, including a lay-up off an inbounds pass but couldn’t convert. Springfield’s Sean Burroughs grabbed his ninth and final rebound with three seconds left to end it.

“These are games we’ve got to find a way to win,” Hamilton coach Tim Robinson said after his squad shot 33 percent in the final quarter and 36.5 percent for the game. “We had every opportunity. We had great looks; we have to find a way to make an easy shot.”

Springfield coach Isiah Carson lost four one-possession games last season in going 6-15, a year he believes made his squad stronger.

“Last year we wouldn’t have won that game,” Carson said. “These guys have grown up and matured a bit. It wasn’t pretty, but this is a good confidence-builder for us.”

Hamilton came roaring back from a 10-4 deficit in the first quarter to cut the Cats’ lead to 14-11 heading into the second quarter before taking off and building a 30-23 lead at the break behind a balanced scoring attack led by seven points from freshman A’Shon Riggins, who finished with a team-high 14.

A 3-pointer by Christian Jones (11 points) pushed the Big Blue lead to 37-28 with 5:15 left in the third, but the Cats came charging back. John Carson started a 10-2 run to close the gap to 41-38 heading into the final eight minutes.

“We started getting stops and taking control of things offensively,” Carson said. “We had to fight through adversity and that is something we weren’t good at last year.”

Springfield tied it 46-46 with 3:40 left on a basket by Henry Alexander as the teams swapped the lead five times, with Hamilton taking its last lead, 52-51, with 59 seconds left on a basket by Quintin Bailey.

That set up Minney’s free throws to win it.

“We were down at half and down in the third quarter, but we found a way to come back,” Minney said. “This gives us a lot of confidence. Last year, we couldn’t put things together for a whole game.”

For the Big Blue, it is time to get back to work for Fairfield as they look to rebound.

“It is one of those that are tough,” Robinson said. “It would be nice to be 2-0, but now we have to work hard and find our way back.”