Class B: Beatrice wins state title

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Saturday's Class B results:

Championship: Beatrice 39, Elkhorn 36

The gold medal dangling from Mike Fox’s neck clanged against the Class B state championship trophy.

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Beatrice's Mike Fox and Dan Spittler of Elkhorn scramble for a loose ball Saturday. (William Lauer)

Beatrice's Mike Fox and Dan Spittler of Elkhorn scramble for a loose ball Saturday. (William Lauer)

The Beatrice senior had just  hit two free throws with 2.4 seconds left, intercepted a last-second, full-court pass and led the Orangemen to their third state title since 1998 with a 39-36 victory against Elkhorn on Saturday at the Devaney Sports Center.

Big plays stood out in the lowest-scoring Class B final since 1949 and the second-lowest final in any class since 1953.

“You play to win, don’t you?” said Beatrice coach Jim Weeks. “It’s all about results. We’ll take the trophy.”

Beatrice scored just five points, with no field goals, in the fourth quarter, but overcame a 36-35 Elkhorn lead when Zach Ruiz hit two free throws with 27 seconds left. Seconds later, Fox stopped Elkhorn standout center Josh Lynch near the baseline and Beatrice guard Jesse Genrich stripped the ball and called a timeout. Beatrice ran the clock to 2.4 seconds, then Fox hit a pair of free throws.

“We knew Elkhorn would try to get the ball to Lynch and Mike had him guarded really well from behind,” Genrich said. “I just covered down and grabbed for the ball, thinking we’d get a jump ball at worst and get the ball at best.”

After Fox hit the free throws, the 6-foot-5 center intercepted Elkhorn’s long inbounds pass and flipped the ball in the air as time expired.

“I don’t know who they were going to, but I saw I had a path to the pass,” Fox said. “I thought I almost squeezed the air out of the ball. That’s such a relief.”

Elkhorn’s defense almost squeezed the life out of the Orangeman offense.

Beatrice cruised to a 31-21 lead with 5:32 left in the third quarter as Genrich hit a three-pointer and Ruiz scored on a three-point play to open the second half. But Beatrice managed just one more field goal the rest of the game, missing its last 13 shots from the field, while Elkhorn chipped away at the deficit behind the scoring of Lynch, who finished with 18 points.

“We had such great opportunities after Beatrice got that start in the third quarter,” said Elkhorn coach Alex Bahe. “We got three stops in a row, but we missed a couple of chances and didn’t get the lead until late in the game.”

Elkhorn, which upset two-time defending state champion and top-ranked Omaha Skutt in the first round and stopped Lincoln Pius X in the semifinals, missed four close shots and saw Lynch called for charging twice in the final 10 minutes of the game.

Despite the troubles on offense, Elkhorn rallied on a basket by Lynch with 3:32 left to cut the deficit to 35-34. Lynch and teammate Devan Walsh continued to frustrate the Orangemen and Lynch hit a free throw with 1:08 left to tie the game and another with 41 seconds left to give the Antlers their first lead since early in the second quarter.

“We may have lost the battle with Lynch, but we won the war,” Weeks said. “It was a war out there and I couldn’t be prouder of these guys.

“These guys came a long way. Fox was a freshman on our state championship team (2005) and was one of four guys back from last year’s runner-up team. But I remember that these seniors were on a seventh-grade team that was 2-7.”

Weeks said the defensive keys for his team were simple.

“We had to keep Dan Spittler from hitting all those threes he had been through the tournament and we had to shut down some of the Lynch-Walsh scoring,” he said. “They were 11-for-14 against Pius. We had to have Zach Ruiz, Fox and Ben Murphy really battle them. Lynch got his points.”

Walsh, who had scored 10 and 12 points in the tournament games, finished with two against Beatrice.

--Ken Hambleton

Third place: Gretna 52, Lincoln Pius X 47

After a tough loss to Elkhorn in Friday’s semifinals, Lincoln Pius X coach Ray Forycki said it was pretty hard for the Thunderbolts to come back strong and play in Saturday’s Class B third-place game.

"It's a difficult game to play,” Forycki said. “The disappointment of losing last night is tough.”

On Saturday, the No. 4 Thunderbolts rallied from a first-half deficit, but couldn’t hold on and fell to Gretna 52-47. 

The fifth-ranked Dragons went on a late first-quarter run and entered the second quarter with a 17-12 lead.

Spurred by two three-pointers by senior guard Joe Pleskac, the Thunderbolts fought their way back, but still trailed by two points at halftime.

Pius X got back on top in the third quarter. Pleskac, who scored a game-high 21 points, had five of the Thunderbolts’ 12 points in the period.

The game was close throughout the fourth quarter, but Gretna more than three minutes left after junior center Dwight Jones scored three consecutive baskets. Jones led the Dragons with 15 points.

Gretna made six free throws in the closing minutes to clinch the victory.

Forycki said Gretna simply played better basketball at the end and deserved to win.

“We didn't execute very well, we didn't play very good defense and Gretna played better than we did,” Forycki said. “It was a good game for them.”

--Tommy Dahlk