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LINCOLN < Even though the top two seeds in the Class C-2 State Tournament were playing in the consolation game instead of where they would have preferred, a lack of effort sure wasn't noticeable.
And that effort resulted in a season-ending victory for Ravenna on Saturday.
Josh Deines scored 17 points and Greg Nissen added 16 to lead the top-seeded Bluejays to a 65-55 victory over Ponca at the Pershing Center.
Ravenna coach Paul Beranek said it was tough coming back after a heartbreaking loss to Grand Island Central Catholic in the semifinals.
"The last 24 hours were very, very emotional," he said. "It's emotional yet. They were very emotional kids before the game with the seniors knowing they'd be done in 32 minutes. I wasn't expecting that part.
"Our guys for some unknown reason came to play like we were at Bob Devaney. We played at a championship level."
Ravenna (25-2) never trailed and led 19-7 after the first quarter even while getting all 12 players in the game before the second period.
"We think we have something special at Ravenna," Beranek said. "Things like reloading come to mind. We're losing some special players. We're going to try to reload. Those things we were thinking about tonight. (The bench players) earned it. It was not garbage time for us."
The Bluejays held a 32-22 lead at halftime and expanded that with a 12-0 run late in the third quarter to go ahead 51-32. Trevin Chramosta got it started with a pair of layups and Greg Nissen and Jordan Chizek added 3-pointers to put Ravenna up 51-30 with 2 minutes, 21 seconds left in the third.
Ponca (22-4) used a 17-6 run to end the game to almost get it back to a single digit margin.
The game was an up-and-down affair for 32 minutes, just what Beranek expected and hoped for.
"That's exactly what we wanted," he said. "(Ponca coach) Bob Hayes and I joked about it. We knew what both teams bring - a full-court press.
"We like that pace. If we get it to that, honestly we feel like people will have a tough time with us."
RAVENNA 65, PONCA 55
PONCA (22-4)
Smith 4-11 1-1 9, Block 0-2 0-0 0, Watchorn 0-10 2-3 2, C. Dohma 0-0 0-0 0, Curry 3-13 2-4 8, Rush 3-4 0-0 6, Blatchford 1-3 0-0 2, O'Neill 2-7 3-4 8, Peterson 3-11 4-7 10, Gehring 1-3 0-0 2, Kastning 1-3 0-0 2, M. Dohma 2-3 0-0 4, Brewer 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 21-56 12-19 55.
RAVENNA (25-2)
Habe 1-6 0-0 3, Deines 5-8 6-8 17, Mingus 0-2 3-4 3, Nissen 5-9 4-4 16, Johnson 2-4 1-1 6, Klosterman 1-3 0-0 5, Crowell 0-2 2-2 2, Chramosta 2-4 0-0 4, Beranek 0-3 0-0 0, Chizek 2-9 0-0 5, Payne 2-5 0-1 4. Totals 24-56 18-25 65.
Ponca 7 15 10 23 55
Ravenna 19 13 19 14 65
3-Point goals Ponca 1-14 (O'Neill 1-5, Gehring 0-1, Watchorn 0-2, Peterson 0-2, Smith 0-3). Ravenna 7-28 (Nissen 2-6, Deines 1-2, Crowell 1-5, Johnson 1-1, Chizek 1-8, Beranek 0-3). Fouled out Nissen. Rebounds Ponca 44 (Peterson 6). Ravenna 46 (Nissen 11). Turnovers Ponca 15, Ravenna 19. Total fouls Ponca 22, Ravenna 21. Technicals None.
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