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8 seconds, 2 shots
Independent/Scott Kingsley
Central Catholic's Luke Wagoner (center) celebrates with Casey Wiens (left) and Spencer Fahey after the Crusaders beat top seeded Ravenna 49-48 to advance to the C2 state finals Saturday.
Central Catholic's Luke Wagoner (center) celebrates with Casey Wiens (left) and Spencer Fahey after the Crusaders beat top seeded Ravenna 49-48 to advance to the C2 state finals Saturday.
Independent/Scott Kingsley
With 8.8 seconds left Spencer Fahey hits the second of two free throws to put Central Catholic up by one in the C2 semifinal at Pershing Auditorium. Top seeded Ravenna couldn't score, sending Central Catholic to Saturday's final.
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LINCOLN Pick a Grand Island Central Catholic player, any player, to put on the free-throw stripe with the game on the line.
Ask GICC coach Bill Gavers or senior guard Jake O'Connor. They will tell you.
"He's the one guy you want on the line," O'Connor said. "He doesn't miss very often. He's our best offensive player. If you had to pick a guy, it would be Spencer Fahey."
Gavers agreed.
"He puts in thousands of hours in the off season working on his game," Gavers said. "I'm sure he's lived that moment and dreamt about that moment for many times."
Fahey sank two free throws with 8.8 seconds left on the clock to give Grand Island Central Catholic a 49-48 victory over Ravenna in a Class C-2 state tournament semifinal Friday at Pershing Auditorium in Lincoln.
The No. 1-rated Bluejays had one last chance, but Adam Mingus' shot bounced off the rim and GICC's Luke Wagoner grabbed the rebound as the clock ran out.
The win puts Central Catholic into today's 5 p.m. state championship game against Elmwood-Murdock at the Devaney Center.
The Crusaders (17-7) trailed by a point and were throwing the ball in bounds with 9 seconds left when the Bluejays got a little too close and were called for a foul on Fahey.
Ravenna coach Paul Beranek said they obviously didn't want to foul Fahey who is shooting better than 80 percent from the line.
"We were out there trying to do what we wanted to do and put some pressure on defense," Beranek said. "We got a little too close."
The Bluejays called a timeout before the free throws, but that didn't bother Fahey any.
"It was tough when they called the timeout and tried to ice me," Fahey said. "I said I'd do what I've been doing all year, step up and knock them down, then play some good defense for eight seconds."
It wasn't a big offensive game for Fahey, the team's leading scorer at 18 points per game. Fahey didn't score in the first half and ended the game with just seven points, but O'Connor and senior Sam Bolton stepped up for GICC. O'Connor scored 21 points, including eight in the opening quarter. Bolton added 13.
"We knew O'Connor could shoot and we left him open," Beranek said.
"That was not part of our game plan at all. You have to credit the kid. Sometimes it's hard to shoot them in the gym when nobody is guarding you. He knocked them down. In this open air out here, sometimes that's hard to do."
O'Connor said it was nice to hit some shots early.
"I got my confidence going," O'Connor said. "The whole team passed the ball great. Everybody just played hard."
The Crusaders built a 17-8 lead early in the second quarter, but Ravenna scored 16 straight points to take a 24-17 lead late in the first half.
"I suppose it's good I'm not very good at math because I didn't know it was that big of a run," Gavers said. "I knew it was a run. We just said (Greg) Nissen is a great player. He got some second shots there at the end. (Adam) Mingus made some plays. Ravenna can go on runs. That's what makes them a great team, so we just had to stay with it."
Ravenna held a 24-20 lead at the half and the game remained close the rest of the way. Nissen scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half to help the Bluejays keep pace with GICC.
Tough offensive rebounding helped the Crusaders pull it out in the fourth quarter. Bolton and Luke Wagoner, who led GICC with 12 rebounds, took control of the boards down the stretch.
"It's just a mentality," Gavers said. "We tell our guys, 'Every shot is a pass to you.' That's how we approach rebounding. Go after every one.
"Luke Wagoner, Sam Bolton, Jake O'Connor. Jake stepped up and had a phenomenal game. We needed some offense. I don't think Spencer scored in the first half and Jake stepped up and scored."
Junior Casey Wiens hit one of the biggest shots of the game for the Crusaders. Wiens had been on the bench much of the game, but he came in after O'Connor had fouled out and hit a 3-pointer with 1 minute left to give GICC a 47-46 lead.
"That was huge," Fahey said. "Sitting on the bench for as long as he did, then being able to come in and knock down a shot was really tough for him. We're really proud of him."
The Crusaders will face an Elmwood-Murdock team that knocked off Ponca, 58-48 in overtime, in the other semifinal game.
O'Connor said the Crusaders are right where they want to be after losing to Gibbon in subdistrict play.
"We had something to prove if we were lucky enough to get in," O'Connor said. "Every game we were out to prove something.
"Right now, we're fortunate to be where we are. Hopefully we can take that next step."
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