MaxPreps 2015 Nebraska boys basketball state tournament recap

Unlike the girls state basketball tournament, none of the six defending boys state basketball champions were able to repeat over the weekend. Class D2 runner-up Bancroft-Rosalie fell short 67-62 in two overtimes to football-basketball sweeper Exeter-Milligan, in attempting to defend its title.

Omaha Creighton Prep (A), Elkhorn South (B), Winnebago (C1), Hastings St. Cecilia (C2) and High Plains Community (D1) were the other champions crowned during last Thursday, Friday and Saturday's basketball action. The Class C2 final between champion St. Cecilia and Freeman was the only No. 1 seed vs. No. 2 seed matchup in the tournament, so upsets were aplenty.

Last weekend's three-day total attendance for the boys state basketball tournament was 99,343 after 48 boys basketball teams swooped into Lincoln in hopes of taking home the champion's hardware.

Below is a look at all of the weekend's action:

Class A – Creighton Prep (Omaha) 46, Omaha South 41
Like several of the other 2014-15 champions, Creighton Prep had to rally in winning it's first big school state basketball championship since 2009. Trailing, or tied, throughout the entire first half, the Junior Jays took a brief 30-29 lead in the third period before the Packers recovered to knot the score 32-32 going into the final eight minutes. But Creighton Prep took over in the fourth, securing the lead for good following layups by Drew Homa and Nate Schimonitz. The Junior Jays pushed the advantage to 42-35 before settling for the five-point win. Schimonitz and Tyson Smiley led the way for the champions with 13 and 10 points respectively. Monte McGary and Caleal Walker carried the Packers with 10 points each.

Class B - Elkhorn South 60, Sidney 51
After settling for fourth and third in 2013 and 2014 respectively, the Storm took home the Class B top prize despite strong resistance from runner-up Sidney last Saturday. Following two ties and 13 lead changes, Elkhorn South took command in the final period. Johnny Trueblood's layup put the Storm up for good,44-43, with 5:32 left in the contest, and Elkhorn South eventually pulled away for the nine-point win. Trueblood led the champions with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists, while Trey Kennebeck added 12 points for the Storm. Tyler Wintholz led all scorers with 18 points and six rebounds for Sidney. Lane Harvey added 13 points for the Red Raiders.

Class C1 – Winnebago 66, Scotus (Columbus) 51
Winnebago led all of the way in this one as the Indians went on to win the school's first boys state basketball title since 1940. Cory Cleveland gave Winnebago it's largest lead of the game when he made a pair of charity tosses to put the Indians up 62-43 with 1:40 left in the championship game. Scotus did win the battle of the boards 32-24 and out scored Winnebago 21-11 on second chance points. Winnebago, however, took care of the basketball dishing out nine assists to just five turnovers. The Indians shot 53.3% from beyond the arc, making eight threes. For the tournament, Winnebago knocked down 24 three-pointers. For the third-straight state tournament game, Mathew Wingett scored over 20 points, leading all scorers in the championship game with 22. Isaiah Medina and David Wingett added 16 and 15 points respectively, while Cleveland chipped in with 11 points. Dalton Taylor and Cody Mroczek led the Shamrocks with 13 points each. Grant Lahm scored 12 points.

Class C2 – St. Cecilia (Hastings) 60, Freeman (Adams) 36
St. Cecilia opened this one up right out of the gate, taking a 36-16 lead at intermission, and played the entire second half with a comfortable advantage. The Bluehawks shot 60.6% from the field for the game, including 52.9% from beyond the arc, making nine of 17 shots from there. St. Cecilia controlled every phase of the game in winning the school's first boys state basketball title, since taking the C1 crown in 2010. The Bluehawks were led by Dayton Sealey 16 points. Brooks Asher and Zach Kitten chipped in 13 and 11 points respectively. Freeman's Isaac Frerichs led all scorers with 19 points, while Calan Sedlacek added 10 points.

Class D1 – High Plains (Polk) 64, St. Francis (Humphrey) 61
For the second time in a little over two weeks, High Plains Community rallied from a double-digit deficit to St. Francis to win by three points. The first such instance occurred February 26 in the D1-4 sub-district final, a 55-52 Storm win. In that game, St. Francis led 42-31 in the third period. High Plains, however, stormed back to cut the deficit to 42-36 going into the final frame. High Plains then finished off the Flyers by out scoring Eric Kessler's club 19-10 in the final eight minutes to advance to the sub-district final. Saturday, the Storm took its first lead of the game, 56-55, on Cole Klingsporn's jumper with 3:24 left in the game. The Storm never looked back from then on after trailing by as many as 12 points in the second period. Zack Huettner led all scorers for the Flyers with 26 points after scoring 18 in the first half. Damien Baumgart and Chayse Wemhoff added 13 and 10 points respectively. Sophomore Thomas Young led the champions with 21 points, while Cale Harless and Klingsporn chipped in with 14 and 12 points respectively.

Class D2 – Exeter-Milligan 67, Bancroft-Rosalie 62 (2OT)
Exeter-Milligan finished off the football-basketball sweep with a five-point win over the defending champion Panthers. But it didn't come easy. The Timberwolves had to fend off the Panthers for two overtimes in securing the school's first boys basketball championship. Trailing 50-47, the Timberwolves' Derek Luzum tied the game 50-50 with 2:05 remaining when he drilled a three-pointer. Bancroft-Rosalie decided to go for the last shot on the next possession, but Kenny Appleton's jumper was off the mark with six-seconds left. Exeter-Milligan's Kyle Jensen had a chance to win the game in the first overtime, but his second of two free throws missed. Luzum gave the Timberwolves the lead for good in the second extra period when he drilled a three-pointer with 3:08 remaining to put the champions up 58-56. Exeter-Milligan pushed their advantage to six points twice and the Panthers could get no closer than three points from then on. Luzum led all scorers for the champions with 28 points, 11 rebounds and a pair of blocks. Sam Zeleny tallied 17 points, four rebounds and four assists, while Jensen earned the champion's second double double of the contest with 11 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Kenny Appleton scored 23 points and dished out five assists for Bancroft-Rosalie. Carsten Tietz finished the title game with 14 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

State champion coaches
Class A – Josh Luedtke, Omaha Creighton Prep
Class B – Alex Bahe, Elkhorn South
Class C1 – Jeffrey Berridge, Winnebago
Class C2 – Kevin Asher, Hastings St. Cecilia
Class D1 – Cameron Hudson, High Plains Community
Class D2 – Dean Filipi, Exeter-Milligan

Consolation championships
Consolation titles were awarded in the four smallest classifications. Grand Island Central Catholic, Archbishop Bergan, Bruning-Davenport/Shickley and Riverside all ended the season on a winning note Saturday after falling short in semifinal games Friday. Below is a look at the consolation championship results and the leading scorers from each game.

Class C1 – Grand Island Central Catholic 66, Bishop Neumann (Wahoo) 55
GICC - Youhanna Ghaifan, 22, Elijah Hunter, 17. BN – Jaxon Simons, 14, Vince Konecky, 11.

Class C2 – Archbishop Bergan (Fremont) 55, Battle Creek 53
AB – Adam Dykman, 22, Brian Wilmes, 12. BC – Jared Bellar, 15, Zach Bellar, 11.

Class D1 – Bruning-Davenport/Shickley 55, Heartland 47
BDS – Grant Norder, 23, Cody Garland, 10. H – Jordan Heinrichs, 14, Cole Nickels, 10.

Class D2 – Riverside (Cedar Rapids) 56, Minatare 45
R – Tanner Hudson, 16, Collin Martinsen, 16, Jake Kennedy, 10. M – Yovan Perez, 16.