By Bob Hamar
bob.hamar@theindependent.com

At least that's who Gibbon coach Paul Reinertson thought of as he watched Nissen score 17 points, pull down 11 rebounds and block six shots to lead Class C-2 No. 1 Ravenna to a 53-48 overtime victory over the Buffaloes in a Lou-Platte Conference Tournament semifinal game at Centura High School.

"If we could have taken Wilt Chamberlain out of there," Reinertson said. "He must have set a Lou-Platte record for blocks tonight. I thought Wilt had used up all his eligibility."

But Chamberlain, a career 51 percent shooter from the line, never shot free throws as well as Nissen did against Gibbon. The 6-foot-6 senior was 7 for 9 from the line, including a perfect 6 for 6 in the overtime period.

The only negative for Nissen might have been an ill-advised pass that Gibbon turned into two free throws late in regulation.

"He had a big game," Ravenna coach Paul Beranek said. "He's a heck of a player. He'd be the first one to tell you he didn't want to throw that pass, but that's high school basketball."

The win moves Ravenna (16-1) into the tournament final against St. Paul at 8 p.m. tonight at Centura High School.

It looked like the Bluejays had the game under control with a 32-22 lead over the Buffaloes (9-6) heading into the final quarter. But Gibbon's Josh Reinertson, who led all scorers with 21 points, got things going as the Buffaloes came roaring back.

Jordan Reinertson had just six points for the game, but Beranek said the two brothers make things tough on opponents.

"They have two good players who are awfully good," Beranek said. "The Reinertson boys can beat you two-handedly, but they can also get it to their teammates which we were afraid of. They're a very good team. They're in our subdistrict so that adds another team that's going to be shooting for us."

The Bluejays could have closed things out in regulation, but they missed the front end of one-and-one attempts three times in a row. While Ravenna was missing, Jordan Reinertson was connecting on four straight from the line in the final minute to pull Gibbon to within two at 39-37.

"We missed three fronts of one-and-ones in regulation," Beranek said. "Those guys usually knock them down, but tonight for some reason just didn't do it at that time.

"I can't fault our kids' effort. This team, I don't know what it is. As bad as we can play at times, the stupidest passes we can make and dumb fouls, they have an innate quality of finding a way to win."

That they did, but not it took overtime to get it done. The Buffaloes tied the game at 39 with just 2 seconds left in the fourth quarter when Jordan Reinertson found Bryce Cudaback open underneath for the tying basket.

Paul Reinertson didn't want to talk much about that play because he said they might want to use it again sometime.

"We had our chance," Reinertson said. "You take the No. 1 team to overtime, you must have played pretty decent."

RAVENNA 53, GIBBON 48

GIBBON (9-6)

Yockey 3-71-2 7, Josh Reinertson 6-20 7-7 21, Benge 2-4 3-3 7, Jordan Reinertson 2-6

2-4 6, Cudaback 3-6 1-2 3, Rivera 0-0 0-0 0, Chramosta 0-1 0-0 0, Wadkins-Meyer 0-0 0-0 0, Rasmussen 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 16-45 14-18 48.

RAVENNA (16-1)

Habe 4-12 2-2 9, Deines 1-4 0-1 2, Mingus 5-7 0-2 12, Basnett 1-3 2-2 4, Nissen 4-7 7-9 17, Payne 0-0 0-0 0, Chizek 2-7 1-2 5, T. Chramosta 1-1 2-2 4, Johnson 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 18-45 12-20 53.

Gibbon 12 7 3 17 9 48

Ravenna 13 14 5 7 14 53

3-Point goals Gibbon 2-10 (Josh Reinertson 2-7, Jordan Reinertson 0-2, Benge 0-1). Ravenna 5-27 (Nissen 2-4, Mingus 2-4, Habe 1-7, Deines 0-2, Basnett 0-2, Johnson 0-3, Chizek 0-5). Fouled out Deines. Rebounds Gibbon 31 (Josh Reinertson 6). Ravenna 29 (Nissen 11). Turnovers Gibbon 18, Ravenna 12. Total fouls Gibbon 16, Ravenna 17. Technicals None.

St. Paul 59, Doniphan-Trumbull 47

Sophomore Louis Poss scored 21 points, most of those on drives to the basket, to lead St. Paul to a 59-47 victory over Doniphan-Trumbull in the second semifinal.

Poss scored 12 points in the first quarter alone on 5 for 5 shooting from the floor.

"Louis is a tremendous athlete," St. Paul coach Rick Peters said. "He's going to be something to watch in the future. He has such a nice left hand and can control that ball when he gets to swooping it in."

Doniphan-Trumbull coach Zac Foster said the Cardinals (9-9) knew what Poss was going to do, but didn't do a good job against the dribble penetration.

"That was disappointing because we talked a lot about trying to guard the dribble," Foster said. "We tried to keep the dribble from happening and we still couldn't stop it.

"But you tip your hat to him. He made some great plays, but we're all disappointed with how we played him."

The Wildcats (15-2) also got 12 points from sophomore Brian Gay. Peters said the team has gained confidence as the wins have mounted.

"It's just fantastic what these kids have done," Peters said. "I think winning the close games early in the year was probably a big boost. If we lose a few of those, it may have turned out differently. But every win gave these young kids a boost."

Senior Kelan Buhr led the Cardinals with 17 points while sophomore Taylor Fjeldheim added 15.

"I was proud of our effort and our resiliency," Foster said. "We got down early and came back. You just have to give a lot of credit to St. Paul. They've won (15) games for a reason. They're athletic and tough to guard. The biggest thing is they're tough to keep off the boards."

Peters said he expects an up-tempo game tonight when the Wildcats play Ravenna for the tournament title.

"Both teams like to play man-to-man defense," Peters said. "Both teams can run the floor pretty well. They may be a little quicker at certain spots. We're going to have to be aware of that and make sure we get out on their 3-point shooters."

ST. PAUL 59, DON.-TRUMBULL 47

ST. PAUL (15-2)

Behnk 3-4 0-0 8, Poss 9-12 3-5 21, Timmons 0-2 0-0 0, Gay 3-6 4-7 12, Wells 1-8 0-0 2, Larosn 0-0 0-0 0, Schilousky 0-1 0-2 0, Raferty 3-7 0-0 8, Robinson 1-2 0-0. Totals 22-45 11-18 59.

DONIPHAN-TRUMBULL (9-9)

Buhr 6-15 0-0 17, R. Fjeldheim 1-4 0-0 2, T. Fjeldhiem 5-13 3-5 15, Hayman 1-3 0-0 2, Jones 4-7 0-0 9, Neffe 0-0 0-0 0, Lau 0-0 0-0 0, Armon 1-3 0-0 2, Lilienthal 0-0 0-0 0, Nelson 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 18-50 3-5 47.

St. Paul 14 17 13 15 59

Doniphan-Trumbull 8 13 12 14 47

3-Point goals St. Paul 6-14 (Gay 2-2, Behnk 2-3, Rafferty 2-6, Poss -1, Wells 0-2). Doniphan-Trumbull 8-26 (Buhr 5-10, T. Fjeldheim 2-6, Jones1-4, Armon 0-1, R. Fjeldhiem 0-2, Haymon 0-3). Fouled out R. Fjeldheim. Rebounds St. Paul 33 (Wells 9). Doniphan-Trumbull 25 (Jones 8). Turnovers St. Paul 14, Doniphan-Trumbull 12. Total fouls St. Paul 9, Doniphan-Trumbull 15. Technicals None.