High school basketball: Nebraska state tournament recap

With the Big Ten wrestling tournament taking over Pinnacle Bank Arena the first weekend of March, the Nebraska girls state basketball tournament was pushed back a weekend, forcing the boys and girls to play for the Cornhusker State's state champion's hardware all in the same week.

In order for the Nebraska School Activities Association to squeeze in the 92 high school basketball games, a Monday-Saturday schedule was adopted for 2021-22. Monday and Tuesday quarterfinal games were held at several locations throughout Lincoln.

Wednesday and Thursday semifinal contests were moved to the Bob Devaney Center and Pinnacle Bank Arena while the championships were split between Friday and Saturday at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Although this year's format is temporary, the NSAA did leave the door open for permanent adoption. Regardless of what happens with the state basketball tournament next winter and beyond, six boys state basketball champions were crowned last weekend.

St. Patrick's (North Platte) kicked off championship Friday with an impressive 65-57 win over Loomis to claim the Class D1 state championship hardware. Then, following Roncalli Catholic's 52-37 Class B state title win over Skutt Catholic (Omaha), Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family (Humphrey) claimed its third state basketball title in four years by upending defending state champion Grand Island Central Catholic (Grand Island) 43-42 to claim the Class C2 title.

Ashland-Greenwood (Ashland) claimed the Class C1 state basketball title with a 36-33 win over two-time state champion Auburn to kick off Saturday's action. Defending champion Millard North (Omaha) then bettered Bellevue West (Bellevue) 67-57 to claim the Class A state title before Parkview Christian (Lincoln) knocked off St. Mary's (O'Neill) 64-48 in the Class D2 state title tilt Saturday evening.
Repeat champions
All six state champions from a year ago returned to the state tournament to defend their titles in 2022 except last year's Class D1 state champion Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family who moved up to Class C2. However, the Bulldogs did unseat defending champion Grand Island Central Catholic in overtime in the Class C2 title contest. Class A champion Millard North also defended its state title from a year ago with a win over Bellevue West.

Defending Class B champion Beatrice fell to Omaha Roncalli Catholic 52-29 in the semifinals, two-time defending Class C1 state champion Auburn lost to Ashland-Greenwood in the championship game and defending Class D2 king Falls City Sacred Heart dropped a 46-31 decision to eventual state champion Parkview Christian in the semifinals before upending Osceola 63-40 in the consolation championship.

Record breaker
Ashland-Greenwood's Cale Jacobsen broke former Grand Island Central Catholic standout C.J. Cowgill's record for points scored in a Class C1 state tournament game when he ripped the cords for 43 points in a 62-55 semifinal win over Kearney Catholic. Jacobsen made 10 2-point field goals, three 3-pointers and all 14 of his free throw attempts during the performance. Cowgill set the old mark of 41 points in 1996.

First-time champions and double dippers
Ashland-Greenwood claimed its first boys basketball championship since the two schools joined forces. Ashland won the Class M title in 1922 while Greenwood won the Class K championship in 1921, the Class J title in 1926 and the Class O championship in 1928. Parkview Christian earned its first boys basketball title last weekend while North Platte St. Patrick's earned its second boys basketball title, but the school's first since winning the Class D championship in 1928.

Dominant programs
The legacy of senior classes is discussed quite often this time of year, so here at MaxPreps we decided to delve into the data to see just how many schools have played their way into Nebraska's boys state basketball tournament in each of the past four basketball seasons.

The answer? Eight.

Auburn, Bellevue West, Falls City Sacred Heart, Grand Island Central Catholic, Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family, Loomis, Omaha Creighton Prep and Omaha Skutt Catholic. Another 20 schools qualified for the boys state basketball tournament in three of the last four seasons. Thirty-one schools qualified for Nebraska's version of March Madness twice in the past four years while 38 boys basketball programs played their way into the field of 48 once since 2019.

Humphrey, Lindsay title towns
A lot had been said last week about the communities of Humphrey and Lindsay sending three of their four basketball teams to Lincoln to compete in the state championships. Especially since all three representatives played for state titles with the Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family boys and girls claiming championships in Class C2 and Class D1 respectively and the Humphrey St. Francis girls settling for silver medals in Class D2.

But it's not the first time the two communities teamed up to send multiple basketball teams to the state tournament. In fact, in 2019 and last year all four basketball teams punched their tickets to Nebraska's March Madness. The Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family girls missed out on the fun in 2020 while Humphrey St. Francis' boys fell short in its bid to join the action last week. Both girls teams competed at the state tournament in 2018 with both boys teams failing to make the cut.

Championship coaches
Class A – Timothy Cannon, Millard North
Class B – J.J. Stoffel, Roncalli Catholic
Class C1 – Jacob Mohs, Ashland-Greenwood
Class C2 – Joe Hesse, Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family
Class D1 – William O'Malley, North Platte St. Patrick's
Class D2 – Nathan Godwin, Parkview Christian

Consolation champions
Consolation titles were awarded in the four smallest divisions. Kearney Catholic, Norfolk Catholic, Burwell and Falls City Sacred Heart all ended the season on winning notes Friday and Saturday after coming up short in semifinal games Wednesday and Thursday.

Class C1 – Kearney Catholic (27-2) 79, Fort Calhoun (21-7) 65
Class C2 – Norfolk Catholic (23-5) 57, Amherst (23-6) 39
Class D1 – Burwell (25-4) 58, Dundy County-Stratton (24-5) 44
Class D2 – Falls City Sacred Heart (24-6) 63, Osceola (22-7) 40

Single-game scoring outbursts
43 – Cale Jacobsen, Ashland-Greenwood in a 61-55 win over Kearney Catholic in the Class C1 semifinals.
35 – Dillon Critel, Burwell in a 65-58 win over Elgin Public/Pope John in the Class D1 quarterfinals.
35 – Connor Millikan, Platteview in a 60-44 win over Bennington in the Class B quarterfinals.
32 – Quinn Johnson, Loomis in a 60-48 win over Dundy County-Stratton in the Class D1 semifinals.
27 – Carsen Schwarz, Fort Calhoun in a 48-46 loss to Auburn in the Class C1 semifinals.
26 – David Harmon, Millard North in a 67-57 win over Bellevue West in the Class A state championship game.
26 – Marcus Lowry, Grand Island Central Catholic in a 43-42 overtime loss to Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family in the Class C2 state championship game.
26 – Shay Swanson, Loomis in a 55-34 win over Riverside in the Class D1 quarterfinals.
25 – Landon Pokorski, Gretna in a 67-65 win over Omaha Central in the Class A quarterfinals.
24 – Josiah Dotzler, Bellevue West in a 68-51 win over Creighton Prep in the Class A semifinals.
24 – Luke Jungers, Creighton Prep in a 53-48 win over Omaha Westside in the Class A quarterfinals.
24 – Brady McGill, Roncalli Catholic in a 64-58 win over Waverly in the Class B quarterfinals.
24 – Maverick Binder, Auburn in a 48-46 win over Fort Calhoun in the Class C1 semifinals.
24 – Brett Mahony, Kearney Catholic in a 79-65 win over Fort Calhoun in the Class C1 consolation championship game.
24 – Colton Wright, Elgin Public/Pope John in a 65-58 loss to Burwell in the Class D1 quarterfinals.

Three-game scoring outbursts
76 – Cale Jacobsen, Ashland-Greenwood
65 – Dillon Critel, Burwell
64 – Quinn Johnson, Loomis
60 – James Gninefou, Skutt Catholic
59 – Marcus Lowry, Grand Island Central Catholic
59 – Aidan Hedstrom, St. Mary's
57 – Josiah Dotzler, Bellevue West
56 – Brecken Erickson, North Platte St. Patrick's
55 – Connor Milliken, Platteview
53 – David Harmon, Millard North

They said it
"I didn't worry because in the huddle these guys were telling everybody the right thing," Millard North head coach Timothy Cannon told the Omaha World Herald after winning a second straight Class A state championship. "And it was all about, just stay calm. So, I just had to get into make sure we're going to get into a press break, and they do the rest because the way they played together and they told each other, stay calm. I remember hearing, and I heard this last year, we're not losing and when I heard we're not losing. I knew we weren't losing.'"

"We came out on a mission," Roncalli Catholic's Quincy Evans told the Omaha World Herald after his team won the Class B state title. "We want to be intentional about defense. We knew what we had to do to get it done and all it came down to was attacking the rim and who wanted to be more aggressive at the rim."

"It looked good off the hand," Cale Jacobsen told the Hastings Tribune after he flipped a pass to teammate Evan Shepard who in turn knocked down a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to win the Class C1 state basketball championship last weekend. "I think we can all say that. Right away I knew it was in and he knew it was in. It was a pretty cool moment."

"I'm proud of everyone, it's been a fun ride," Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family senior Jacob Sjuts told the Columbus Telegram after the Bulldogs won their third state basketball title in four years. "But to come out a couple points ahead in each one of these games just speaks to the grit and toughness we have here as a team."

"There's no better feeling," North Platte St. Patrick's senior Jack Heiss told the North Platte Telegraph after his team won its first state title in 94 years. "There just isn't. It's still not totally setting in, but what we did was crazy. It's awesome."