CLASS C-1
No. 1 Wahoo 60, No. 5 Lincoln Christian 48
The top-seeded Wahoo Warriors advanced in a clunk game that seemingly included almost as many fouls as points in the first half.
Wahoo raced out to a 26-10 lead early in the second half despite dealing with foul trouble to multiple starters, but Lincoln Christian turned the tables with a 16-1 run to pull within one at halftime, 27-26.
Christian scored the first two buckets of the second half to take the lead stretching the run to 20-1, but Wahoo answered with a 10-0 run to take back the lead and held onto it the rest of the way.
Brendan Lacey led all scorers with 22 points while Cameron Quick and Will Hancock III chipped in 10 apiece. Caleb Canfield led Christian with 15 points and sophomore Justin Bubak added 10 points, nine rebounds and five blocks.
No. 2 Winnebago 69, No. 3 Broken Bow 55
Winnebago has been one of the biggest stories at the state tournament the last few years with one of the most prolific players in state history in David Wingett leading the way. Winged is gone now, but Rez Ball rolls on behind seniors D’Von Lapointe and MaNaPe Cleveland.
Winnebago opened the game with an 8-0 run including a pair of triples by Cleveland and a breakaway finish by LaPointe. Broken Bow responded with a 10-2 run to tie it up. Lapointe knocked down a 3 to give Winnebago a 13-10 lead after one.
Winnebago opened the second quarter with a 10-2 run of its own to take control and held on the rest of the way.
MaNaPe led all scorers with 27 points on 10-of-16 from the field (5-of-7 from 3) with seven boards. LaPointe added 25 on 11-of-18 shooting (2-of-4 from 3). Kevin Linn had 22 points for Broken Bow, shooting a near-perfect 8-of-9 from the field and 6-of-7 from the line.
The Warriors advanced to the C-1 final for the second straight year after finishing as runners-up to Wahoo Neumann last year. Winnebago won state in 2015 but lost to Wahoo in the semifinals last year. Tipoff at Pinnacle Bank Arena is set for 9 a.m.
CLASS D-1
No. 7 Nebraska City Lourdes 55, No. 6 Johnson-Brock 47
The two-time reigning Class D-1 champions in Nebraska City Lurdes won their eighth straight state tournament game over a young Johnson-Brock team over at the Devaney Center on Friday morning.
Brandon Friedrichs led the Knights with 23 points while Briar Cliff signee Quinten Vasa added 11 points.
Freshman Kaden Glynn led the Eagles with 22 points including four 3-pointers.
No.1 Kenesaw 47, No. 4 Heartland 34
Senior forward Will Gallagher led the Blue Devils with 18 points as they advanced to the D-1 state final with a perfect 28-0 record on the season.
Lane Huebert led Heartland with 15 points.
Kenesaw’s unbeaten record and and Lourdes’ streak at state will be on the line Saturday at 11 a.m.
CLASS B
No. 1 York 52, No. 4 Bennington 45
York showed its football toughness once again, grinding out another win in a physical, foul-filled semifinal against a strong Bennington squad.
For the second straight game, 2019 Nebraska football commit Garrett Snodgrass was saddled with foul trouble in the first half but still led the Dukes in scoring with eight points including a 3-pointer and an acrobatic and-one layup.
Bennington junior Cooper Prososki hit two tough fade-away jumpers including one at the buzzer to tie it up at 26-all heading into halftime. York locked down on defense in the second half, opening with a 9-0 run while holding the Badgers without a point until Gansebwom hit a free throw at the 2:17 mark. That free throw sparked a 6-0 run stretching into the fourth quarter.
With the lead down to one (and Snodgrass out of the game with four fouls), York turned to Danielson and the junior delivered after a rough shooting game, knocking down a 3 to push the lead back to four. However, Bennington scored four straight to tie it up.
York took the lead back with a layup by Tyler Cast and closed out the game form there with defensive stops and free throws.
Snodgrass and Danielson finished with 15 points apiece and Danielson added 11 rebounds. Prososki led Bennington with 17 points and Thomas Spoehr added 15.
No. 2 Omaha Skutt 57, No. 6 Gretna 47
Omaha Skutt flexed its defensive muscles in the first three quarters and built up enough of a cushion to survive a fourth-quarter rally from Gretna and advance to the Class B championship.
Both teams got off to a slow start, but Gretna started to pull away a bit in the second quarter and sophomore Tyson Gordon hit a 3 from a few feet beyond the college arc to put the SkyHawks up 25-16 at the half.
Gretna shot 3-of-13 from 3 in the first half and Skutt really packed it in on defense in the third quarter. The Dragons played into Skutt’s hands, settling for 3-pointer after 3-pointer, and they just wouldn’t fall. At the end of the quarter, Skutt had Gretna doubled up at 38-19 after the Dragons shot 1-of-10 from 3 and scored three points in the quarter.
Gretna came alive in the fourth, exploding for 28 points, but it was too little, too late to mount a serious comeback.
TJ Skradski led the SkyHawks with 17 points on 5-of-7 from the field and 7-of-8 from the line. Gordon added 14 points while Austin Ash chipped in 11.
Tre’ Mikkelsen and Noah Burghardt ld Gretna with 11 points apiece. Nebraska football preferred walk-on commit Joseph Johnson finished with seven points after leading the team with 20 in the quarterfinals.
CLASS C-2
No. 3 Hastings St. Cecilia 39, No. 2 Yutan 36
Trevor Leach knocked down five 3-pointers to lead the Bluehawks with 15 points and Blane Boyd added 11 points to take Hastings St. Cecilia back to the C-2 championship. The Bluehawks came up short in the semifinals to Neligh-Oakdale and finished in third place after winning back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2016.
Yuan’s Mason Timm led all scorers with 19 points while Nebraska football preferred walk-on commit Colton Feist added 12 points and 11 rebounds. The Chieftains had a chance to tie the game at the buzzer, but a good look from 3 did not fall.
No. 1 Ponca 50, No. 5 BRLD 33
Carter Kingsbury led the way with 18 points including four 3-pointers in the first quarter, Max Masin added 12 points and Logan Kingsbury chipped in 10 to lead the Indians back to the Class C-2 title game.
Ponca will look to win its second straight C-2 title on Saturday while Hastings St. Cecilia will be gunning for its third state championship in four years. Tipoff is set for 4:30 p.m.
CLASS A
No. 5 Bellevue West 66, No. 8 Millard South 64
Tevin Tanner may have only scored four points all night, but the final two were the biggest of the game as the senior laid the ball in just before the buzzer to send the Thunderbirds back to the Class A final for the first time since the Thunderbirds won it in all in 2014.
With the game tied at 64-all and the clack running down, junior Nico Felici drove the lane and dropped it off over the top of the defense to Tanner along the baseline, and Tanner did the rest.
.@nico_buckets22 to @_tevtan10 FTW. Bellevue West wins 66-64 and advances to the Class A final. #nebpreps pic.twitter.com/O6MZjpN4kg
— Jacob Padilla (@JacobPadilla_) March 10, 2018
Felici had a tremendous second half, making big play after big play for the Thunderbirds on both ends of the floor. He finished with 17 points and was the primary defender against Millard South’s Tyrell Carroll who finished with 18 after scoring 12 in the first half.
Cedric Johnson also finished with 17 points and blocked four shots for the T-Birds. Freshman Chucky Hepburn added 16 points.
Nebraska baseball commits Kyle Perry and Drew Gilin sacred 17 and 11, respectively, and big man Dylan Wagner notched a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Millard South opened each half with a big run — 15-8 in the first and 15-6 in the second — but each time Bellevue West had an answer. The teams went bucket-for-bucket throughout the fourth quarter right up until the buzzer.
No. 2 Omaha Creighton Prep 63, No. 6 Omaha Bryan 48
Creighton Prep left the door open with some offensive struggles of their own in the first half, but Omaha Bryan failed to capitalize time and time again as the Junior Jays advanced to the Class A championship with a 15-point win.
Prep built up a 17-4 lead lead in the second quarter before Bryan finally got going a bit on offense, closing the half on a 13-10 run to make it 27-17 at the break. Bryan shot 5-of-19 from the field including 2-of-7 from deep, and Prep wasn’t much better at 6-of-23 and 3-of-13. The difference was the free-throw line where Bryan only converted five of their 14 shots while Prep shot 12-of-15.
Prep built its lead up to 20 after a three-point play by Jaylin Hunter, the son of Nebraska basketball assistant coach Kenya Hunter, but a personal 8-0 run by Will Worthington III gave Bryan a bit of life. Prep led 43-29 heading into the fourth. Bryan cut the deficit to 11, but that was as close as they got as Prep held on to win.
Kyle Luedtke led Prep with 21 points on 5-of-10 from the field (4-of-8 from 3) and 7-of-8 from the line. Akol Arop added 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Keelyn Moses led Bryan with 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists. Javen Udofia added 13 points, seven boards and three steals and Worthington chipped in 12 points, all in the second half.
The result sets up a rematch between Prep and Bellevue West at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The Junior Jays beat the Thunderbirds 72-54 at Prep on Feb. 9.
CLASS D-2
No. 1 Falls City Sacred Heart 42, No. 4 Giltner 27
Drew Bippes lead all scorers with 17 points and Tyler Witt added 14 points for the top-seeded Irish as Falls City Sacred Heart advanced to the D-2 final with a dominant defensive effort. Nearly half of Sacred Heart’s total came from the foul line as the Irish shot 20-28 from the charity stripe.
No. 2 Riverside 66, No. 3 Mullen 59
Sophomore Tredyn Prososki led the way with 22 points including four 3s and Joseph Bloom added 19 to lead the Chargers past the reigning Class D-2 champions.
Koby Walker had 16 points, Luke Christen added 14 points and Brendan Walker had 12 points for Mullen.
The top two seeds will face off in the D-2 final at 8:30 p.m., the final game of the high school season.
You can read our recap of Day 1 here.
Jacob Padilla has been writing for Hail Varsity since 2015. He covers football, volleyball men’s basketball and prep sports. He also co-hosts the Nebraska Preps Postgame and Nebraska Shootaround podcasts for the Hurrdat Media and Hail Varsity podcast networks. His love of basketball can best be described as an obsession and if you need to find him, he’s probably in a gym somewhere watching, coaching or playing hoops.
