Class C-1: St. Cecilia wins title; Pierce takes third

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Saturday's Class C-1 results:

Championship: Hastings St. Cecilia 50, Bennington 43

In a Class C-1 championship game where points were tough to come by for three quarters, it was only fitting Hastings St. Cecilia’s defense finally got the Bluehawks’ offense going.

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St. Cecilia's Craig Farmer keeps the ball from Bennington's Tyler Byrd during the Class C-1 finals Saturday. (William Lauer)

St. Cecilia's Craig Farmer keeps the ball from Bennington's Tyler Byrd during the Class C-1 finals Saturday. (William Lauer)

A 10-2 run to open the final period helped break open a tight game and propel the No. 3 Bluehawks to a 50-43 victory against previously unbeaten and No. 2 Bennington Saturday morning at the Devaney Sports Center.

St. Cecilia (23-2), which endured a coaching change at mid-season, won its third boys state basketball championship. The Bluehawks took Class C crowns in 1958 and 1969.

Senior Riley Nikkila had two steals during St. Cecilia’s decisive run, while teammate Dalton Sealey took a charge. That was part of a Bluehawk man-to-man defensive effort that limited Bennington (25-1) to 26 percent shooting (12-of-45) and forced 14 turnovers.

“We kept pressuring the ball and finally there in the fourth quarter, it caused some turnovers that resulted in some layups,” said Nikkila, who finished with eight points, four assists and three steals. “The coaches tell us that taking charges can be the biggest game-changers. Dalton was willing to put his body on the line to help the team, so we had to step up and make some defensive plays ourselves.”

The Bluehawks were clinging to a 24-22 lead when Craig Farmer started the fourth-quarter run by burying a 14-foot jumper 19 seconds into the period. St. Cecilia then extended the margin to six points on a Nikkila backdoor layup off a feed from Farmer.

Two Ben Sowers free throws for the Badgers temporarily halted the rally. After a Bennington stop, Sealey took the charge on a Sowers drive and basket that would’ve cut St. Cecilia’s lead to two.

Bennington had another chance to cut it to two, but Nikkila made a diving steal in the backcourt and got a pass off to a teammate while flat on his back. St. Cecilia missed the layup, but Sealey cleaned it up with a tip-in that made it 30-24.

Seconds later, Nikkila intercepted a Bennington pass and teammate Jake Hamburger ended up scoring on a fast-break layup off an assist from Sealey. Two free throws by Zane Anstine with 4:29 left gave the Bluehawks a 34-24 advantage.

“St. Cecilia plays such good man-to-man defense, it’s hard to get anything going offensively,’’ said Bennington coach Larry Klaus. “It was a defensive battle and at some point, someone would have a run. Unfortunately, it was them.’’

Blake Wright paced St. Cecilia with 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting. Sealey finished with 11 points.

Bennington’s defense kept St. Cecilia under wraps for three quarters. The Badgers led 9-4 after one quarter and took a 16-9 advantage with 3:07 left in the second quarter on a three-point play by Denver Klaus, the coach’s son who finished with a team-high 11 points. The Bluehawks, however, closed the half with seven unanswered points, tying it at 16 on a 15-footer by Wright with 53 seconds left in the half.

St. Cecilia made just one of its first nine shot attempts and had six first-quarter turnovers. The Bluehawks, however, were 11-of- 20 in the second half to finish 17-of-39 for the game (43 percent).

“We told the kids in the second half that if we stayed with it and kept playing defense, we could make something happen,” said Hastings St. Cecilia coach Rob Kober, who shares the head coaching duties with Mike Allsman.

“Riley’s (Nikkila) a gamer. He gave it all he had, he knew there was no tomorrow. This group can do anything they want to do when they put their minds to it.”

--Ron Powell

Third place: Pierce 49, Chadron 44

Eric Koehlmoos scored 19 points as the Bluejays held off a Chadron rally in the second half, earning the win in the Class C-1 third-place game at Pershing Center. Chadron, which was 18-of-25 from the free-throw line, got 10 points from John McLain.