The North Bend Boys won 68-37 at Fort Calhoun Friday night before defeating David City Aquinas 54-51 in the C1-5 Sub-District Semifinals at Columbus High Tuesday night.
The Tigers led the Pioneers 16-11 after one before outscoring Fort Calhoun 22-9 in the second quarter to take a 38-20 lead into the locker room.
North Bend Central won the third quarter 13-6 to go up 51-26 at the end of three.
The Tigers notched 17 points in the fourth quarter compared to 11 for the Pioneers.
Tanner Wietfeld led the way with 18 points while John Emanuel and Matt Ortmeier totaled 13 and 12, respectively. Austin Endorf added 9 while Jake Wietfeld scored 7.
The Monarchs led 17-14 after one before winning the second quarter 15-10 to take a 32-24 lead into the locker room.
The Tigers put up 13 points in the third quarter compared to 10 for David City Aquinas to make it a 42-37 game at the end of three.
North Bend Central outscored the Monarchs 17-9 in the fourth quarter.
Jake Wietfeld led the way with 16 points while Tanner Wietfeld totaled 15. Matt Ortmeier chipped in 14.
Head Coach Jon Baehr says it was a big deal for these three to score double digits. "Having three guys that hit double digits in scoring is important due to how it forces them to guard you. I thought we had a solid distribution of scoring by in large and that allowed us to create the scoring options we needed to have a chance."
Baehr says his team simply played their game in coming back. "I think that first of all David City Aquinas is a very athletic and quality team that plays a brutal schedule as a whole so we knew it was going to be a battle. We felt if we could settle down and be more sound on defense we would have a chance to narrow the gap in the second half and create a game in the fourth quarter. The second part was we needed to stay with it on offense and just battle our way back into the ball game. The adjustment we made on defense was how we were handling their ball screen action. On offense we just wanted to do a better job of moving verse their zone and spacing the floor better to create opportunities to attack the rim."
The Tigers (19-4) take on Columbus Scotus (22-1) in the C1-5 Sub-District Final at Columbus High Thursday night.
The Shamrocks dispatched of rival Columbus Lakeview 56-16 in the Semifinals on Tuesday.
Columbus Scotus knocked off North Bend Central 51-48 in North Bend last Monday night.
Baehr feels playing the Shamrocks once already doesn't really help his team. "I don't feel that seeing them allows us any special advantage as far as whether we can win or not. They are so fast and multiple on offense, so I guess getting a chance to see their speed was a good experience for us but again, they are who they are so we will have to just come out and play as well as we can and see where we stand in the end."
Baehr adds his team will have to play very well to win. "Scotus is a great team. They are very complete as a unit and their players compliment each others game. They have so many weapons and athletic kids that are willing to work hard and do the dirty work and because of that they are a tremendous unit. I think for us we will have to be dynamite on both ends of the floor. We will need to be very locked in on defense. You can't allow them multiple shots on a trip so we will have to do a great job on the glass. We will also have to try as hard as we can to disrupted their flow on offense in order to not allow them to flow freely in their offense. On offense we will have to be very strong with the ball and work to space the floor properly as they are tremendous on the ball but they may be even better in their ability to get to help side and create clutter with their length and ability. As for confidence I don't feel our kids needed to see or do anything to gain or have confidence the first time we played them. It is a basketball game and we work to keep that in perspective and just come out and play as hard as we can as long as we can and the rest will take care of itself. "
Unlike last year, it does not appear likely that the Tigers will earn a wildcard into the state tournament if they lose.
So this is do or die for North Bend Central. The Tigers must find a way to knock off the Shamrocks or their season is over.
I think North Bend Central is very capable of winning though.
The Tigers gave Scotus a run for their money the first time around, and I look for Thursday night's game to be close as well.
Perhaps the fact the Shamrocks are almost guaranteed a state berth win or lose will play a role in how they play in this game, but I still would expect Scotus to be on top of their game like they were Tuesday night against the Vikings.
Thursday night's game is set to tip-off at 6:00 p.m.
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