2026 Nebraska Boys Basketball State Championships Finals Roundup

Nebraska crowned six state champions at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Saturday as the 2026 high school basketball season concluded with the final day of the NSAA Boys Basketball State Championships.

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Previous roundups: Wednesday | Thursday | Semifinals

Class D2

No. 2 Archangels Catholic 50, No. 1 Elgin Public/Pope John 30

The Defenders lived up to their moniker, putting on a 1-3-1 clinic to blow out the top seed and add another trophy to the case for the school formerly known as Humphrey St. Francis.

Senior Brendan Johannes led Archangels with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting (2-of-5 from 3) and 1-of-2 from the free-throw line, four rebounds and two steals. Junior Gavin Geilenkirchen added 12 points, six steals and three assists. Senior Tucker Czarnick chipped in nine points, eight steals and six rebounds while junior Ethan Wieseler recorded his third straight double-digit rebounding effort at state with 13 caroms.

Archangels forced 23 EPPJ turnovers, including 18 steals, to earn a 27-10 advantage in points off turnovers. The Defenders held the Wolfpack to 26.7% shooting to end the season at 27-2.

“I’m super proud of our kids,” Archangels Catholic coach Eric Kessler said. “I thought early, our defense tremendous. You could tell this morning we were ready to play. I was very confident we would play well. I didn’t know if we’d win, but I thought we’d play well. These guys, the last three days, how they’ve played defensively — you’re playing the best teams, and I think on Wednesday, we held Sacred Heart to six points in the second half, we had a six-point effort today. Their effort has been great and was great in practice all year.

“We have six seniors, so extremely proud to end it this way.”

Archangels’ zone seemed to confound the Wolfpack early, helping create an 8-0 run before Karson Kallhoff scored in the lane at the 1:37 mark. EPPJ didn’t make another field goal until the 2:03 mark of the third quarter.

“Our defense is a little bit unique and not a lot of people probably run it,” Kessler said. “You can only run it if you’ve got guys that are working their rear end off all the time. You just have to be relentless all the time, and luckily I’ve got guys that are. It’s hard work; I think these guys would probably agree. I’m blessed with some very good athletes that work hard, and that’s a pretty good combination for what we do.”

The Defenders led 13-5 after the first quarter and 19-6 at halftime. The lead swelled to 35-8 before Max Henn scored inside, and the 6-foot-5 sophomore scored eight more points to close out the period. However, that only narrowed the gap to 19, and the Defenders maintained a comfortable lead throughout the fourth.

Henn was the lone member of the Wolfpack in double figures with 16 points. Senior Jarek Erickson added nine points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and two steals.

>> Third-Place Game: No. 3 St. Mary’s 57, No. 5 Guardian Angels Central Catholic 47

NebPreps All-Tournament Team

>> MOP — Archangels Catholic SR Brenden Johannes: 15.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 2.3 SPG

>> Archangels Catholic SR Tucker Czarnick: 9.0 PPG, 47.6% FG, 100% FT, 4.7 RPG, 3.7 SPG

>> Elgin Public/Pope John SR Jarek Erickson: 14.3 PPG, 48.3% FG, 86.7% FT, 10.3 RPG, 2.7 APG

>> St. Mary’s SR Gage Hedstrom: 19.0 PPG

>> Guardian Angels Central Catholic JR Luke Guenther: 15.7 PPG

 

Class C1

No. 2 Ashland-Greenwood 42, No. 4 Douglas County West 39

The Ashland-Greenwood dynasty continues as its senior class led the Bluejays to their fourth title in the past five seasons.

The back-to-back champs fell behind by nine in the second half then nearly blew their own nine-point lead, surviving three looks from the Falcons in the final 15 seconds to secure the two-point victory.

Ashland-Greenwood coach Jacob Mohs said “talented kids” has been the constant through their four title runs, but each team has fed off the previous winner.

“Every year’s kind of a new story,” Mohs said. “I think the first one gave kids confidence, because until you’ve done it you’re just not sure you can do it. We always challenge the guys to dream big, work hard and dream big. After that first one happened, I just felt like the momentum and snowballing and belief when you come play a game, and every year’s been different …

“When we returned this year, the expectations were super high. I don’t know if they felt it. I’ll just be honest, I felt it, because the expectation this year is you’re just going to play perfect and you’re going to win everything and you’re going to do everything perfectly. I tried throughout the season to make sure that we keep things in perspective and keep the joy in basketball, because that’s why they’re here. They’re here because they love to hang out with their buddies, they love to hoop, and it’s been possible because of the kids we have.”

It wasn’t quite perfect, but it’s about as close as a team can get as the Bluejays finished with a 28-1 record. Senior Derek Tonjes, a four-year varsity player who will graduate with three titles, led the Bluejays with 14 points and six rebounds. Fellow seniors Cal Kissinger and Cooper Westerhold added eight points apiece. The Bluejays held DC West to 37.8% shooting.

“It’s been awesome,” Tonjes said after his final game for Ashland-Greenwood. “We’ve been coached by Mohs since third grade, us six seniors have. Just doing the journey together and knowing its’ been 10 or 11 straight years of just having fun with the boys, I’m obviously going to miss it, but it’s been a great journey.”

The game got off to an inauspicious start for the Bluejays as the Falcons jumped out to a 6-2 lead and took an 11-4 edge into the second quarter. Ashland-Greenwood missed five of its six shots and turned the ball over four times in the first.

The Bluejays hit their first three shots of the second to get going and tied it up at 13-all, but DC West took a 16-15 lead into halftime. The Falcons stretched it back out with a 9-1 start to the third, holding the Bluejays without a field goal for nearly four minutes to build a 25-16 lead.

Then Tonjes took the lid off the rim with a bunny and opened the floodgates. The Bluejays ripped off an 11-0 run to take the lead before DC West junior Lane Smith scored at the rim to tie it at 27-all heading into the fourth.

“We talked to the kids earlier before the game about a good start, and that’s not what happened, and so sometimes the story doesn’t go the way you want it,” Mohs said. The first quarter wasn’t great for us, the second quarter wasn’t great, and that was due to DC West and their play and their execution and plan …

“We’ve got a lot of talented kids on our team. To do what they have done over the course of the last several years is not an accident. You have to spend time in the gym, you have to work at it, you have to be open to feedback, and we’re pretty tough on them. We tell them the truth, we challenge them, and that’s exactly what happened at halftime is we just challenged them to be better with their play, because they’re good enough.”

Ashland-Greenwood used a 7-2 run in the fourth to create some separation and slowed things down, chewing up clock before looking scoring opportunities. Tonjes delivered what appeared to be the dagger with just under three minutes remaining. Late in the shot clock, he found himself open with the ball in the left corner and let it fly, burying his first 3-pointer of the tournament to push the lead to eight just before the buzzer sounded.

“It felt really good to see it go in,” Tonjes said. “I don’t know what I was thinking when I shot it, but I shot it and it went in.”

Senior Landon Mohs added a free throw to push the lead to nine 30 seconds later, but the Falcons weren’t done. They upped the pressure and forced three straight turnovers, scoring eight points in a minute to cut it to one and give themselves a chance at the win with 30 seconds to go.

Out of a timeout, the Falcons got Trey Schieber — who hit a 3 on the previous possession — an open look from the corner, but he couldn’t make it two in a row. He rebounded his own miss and put up a floater with eight seconds to play, but that didn’t go either and Logan Fangmeyer secured the board and drew a foul.

The senior knocked down both bonus shots to push the lead to three with 4.1 to go and Trey Olsen’s off-balance 3 at the buzzer didn’t go.

Schieber led DC West with 16 points while shooting 4-for-7 from deep. Olsen added 10 points and five rebounds. The Falcons finish with a program-record 23 wins.

>> Third-Place Game: No. 1 Ogallala 61, No. 3 Auburn 49

NebPreps All-Tournament Team

>> MOP — Ashland-Greenwood SR Derek Tonjes: 19.7 PPG, 63.9% FG, 7.3 RPG

>> Ashland-Greenwood SR Cooper Westerhold: 12.3 PPG, 62.1% FG, 1.3 SPG

>> DC West JR Lane Smith: 9.7 PPG, 54.5% 3FG

>> Ogallala SR Sawyer Smith: 20.3 PPG

>> Auburn SO Ryan Guenther: 13.0 PPG

 

Class A

No. 4 Lincoln Southwest 57, No. 6 Papillion-La Vista South 53

For the first time in 23 years, the Class A state title is staying in Lincoln.

The Silver Hawks used a 7-0 run to take the lead in the third quarter and held on to it the rest of the way to capture the first Class A state championship for a Lincoln Public School since Lincoln High cut down the nets in 2003.

Seniors Uzziah and Makkiah Sanders and junior Dakari Wilson combined for 45 points to lead the way.

“It proves that we can do it,” Southwest coach Alex Bahe said of what the accomplishment means for his program and the city. “But I think, had we won or lost today, these guys, particularly Ki and Zi, have established a culture at Southwest that we’re going to play fast, we’re going to play aggressive, we’re going to have grit, we’re going to guard. I think that’s more important than even actually having the title.

“Obviously, this feels amazing, and it really validates it for these guys. But I think that Lincoln High getting down here and playing well, Southeast has had good years the last couple years down here. We were on the climb, and I’m not going to lie and say I’m not incredibly proud and pleased we get to be the one that gets on top of the hill first, and so we’ve just got to keep building now. We’ll have a team meeting this week talking about next year that we’ve got to get back down here and do it again.”

Last season, the upstart Silver Hawks pulled off a district final upset at Omaha Westside to earn a spot in the state tournament, but the run was short as the Warriors paid them back in blowout fashion, 87-49 in the first round. Bahe said the journey to the 2026 title began that night.

“We made this commitment last year when we got down here,” Bahe said. “We knew what we had, we knew what we had coming back, and we were disappointed in how we performed when we got down here last year that we said we’re not just getting back, we’re going to win.”

Win they did. This season, Southwest won nine straight games to open the season, becoming the last undefeated team in Class A before falling to Westside on Jan. 10. The Silver Hawks dropped three of six in a three-week span in February, recommitted on the defensive end and won out, including a 66-63 win over that same Westside squad in the semifinals.

The championship saw Papillion-La Vista South score on its first four possessions — three triples and an old-fashioned three-point play — to race out to a 12-3 lead and force a timeout less than two and a half minutes into the game.

The Silver Hawks played from behind the rest of the half, though they cut the deficit to one at halftime, 26-25. Wilson opened the third quarter with a free throw to tie it up before Papio South senior Connor Falkinburg buried a 3 to give the Titans what proved to be their final lead.

Lincoln Southwest scored seven straight to take the lead and continued to pour it on, making six straight shots overall to build a 40-34 lead midway through the period. The Titans cut it to one, but Uzziah Sanders scored the last four points, including a layup at the buzzer, then junior reserve Crayton Meyer scored the first two buckets of the fourth to give Southwest its largest lead of the game at 48-39.

The Titans cut it to four on several occasions but got no closer as the 5-foot-10 Uzziah Sanders punctuated the win with a breakaway slam with less than 10 seconds to play.

The Silver Hawks held Papio South to 37.5% shooting and forced 10 turnovers after halftime to secure the victory.

“We came out a little flat and we were tired … we didn’t have everything in the tank, but these guys have so much grit and so much heart that we were able to amp up some defense in the second half for a stretch there where we could turn them over enough that we could get some things in transition. So again, I thought for the second day in a row, and that speaks to who these guys are, it was done with defense. You guys have watched us, you know we can do in transition, and that when we share the ball and these guys are making shots, we’re pretty special offensively.

“I wouldn’t have envisioned us winning a state championship with such a low scoring game for most of the game, but again, we just find a way to do it because these guys wouldn’t settle for anything less.”

The Silver Hawks earned a 19-3 edge in points off turnovers, recording 17 takeaways while only turning it over three times themselves. During three games at state, Southwest outscored its opponents 58-9 in points off turnovers, forcing 47 turnovers and only giving it away 11 times, including three each in the semis and the final. In turn, the turnovers fueled the Southwest transition attack as the Silver Hawks outscored Millard North, Westside and Papio South 56-5 in fast-break points.

“What’s nice about this team is usually, if you’re a team that plays fast, you have to live with some turnovers, and we’re a team that plays fast and still takes care of the ball,” Bahe said. “I think that’s because these are three point guards that I have here (Sanders, Sanders and Wilson), and so we’re a unique team where I think there are a lot of programs that maybe say you can’t play three 5-10 guys at the same time. We do it, because they’re top point guards in the state, and so when you can get the ball into anybody’s hands and let them turn them loose in transition, let them make plays and they take care of the ball like that.”

Uzziah Sanders led Class A in scoring at 23.4 per game this season and totaled a game-high 20 in the final. In a fitting end, it was his twin brother Makkiah who assisted Uzziah on the final dunk. Makkiah ended the three-point semifinal win with a steal on the final possession and added 11 points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists in the final.

“Zi has gotten a lot of attention with how he’s scored the ball and the consistency he’s scored with,” Bahe said. “I have him in my own mind as Gatorade Player of the Year. But Ki does whatever it takes. I’ve said he’s as tough as any player I’ve ever coached. He will do whatever it takes to win. If it’s a big rebound, if it’s a big steal, if it’s a big bucket, whatever it takes.”

The twins have held the Silver Hawks for the last two years, but the breakout star of the tournament was Wilson. He scored 50 points in the first two games before adding 14 in the final. The junior made two 3s in the first four minutes of the game to break the Class A record for triples in a single tournament run, then he made two more to leave Norfolk guard Jalen Bradley’s previous record (13 in 2010) in the dust. Wilson shot 16-for-35 (45.7%) in the tournament to offset what Southwest lost when senior sharpshooter Hudson Mezger went down with a season-ending knee injury late in the year.

“We needed it, especially with Hudson going down with an injury,” Bahe said. “We lost one of our best shooters, and a guy that, Hudson Mezger can end the game in two minutes with his shooting. And so him going down, we had to have somebody step up shooting the ball. Zi has been real consistent from the arc all year and Dakari is a guy that it’s not just that he makes 3s, he makes huge 3s, he makes loud 3s. He’s a very loud player. So not only does it give us three points when he makes a shot, it energizes the crowd, it lights these guys up, and then we amp up our defense. It’s like a snowball effect with him making 3s.”

The championship marked the final game on the Titans’ sideline for Joel Hueser, who announced his upcoming retirement from teaching and coaching at Papillion-La Vista South at the end of the regular season. He’s the only coach in the program’s history, taking the job when the school opened in 2003. In his final two seasons, Hueser led the Titans to a state championship and a runner-up finish — with dramatically different rosters from one season to the next.

“That’s a dream come true,” Hueser said of ending his career at Pinnacle Bank Arena on championship Saturday. “I’ve said it all along that this team has come from ground zero up and I’m just really proud of how they’ve come together. They play really hard and play very unselfishly. To be able to play in the state final for that last year as a Titan coach, it’s a great honor. I’m very privileged to be a part of this game and Nebraska high school athletics …

“We’re not defined by our outcome. This is a great group of young men and I’m proud to have coached them, and my coaching staff is just through the roof the best. A couple of them have been with me through the whole 22, 23 years, so with that said, it’s a great journey together with those guys.”

Falkinburg led the Titans with 19 points and eight rebounds, shooting 5-for-10 from 3 to finish with 13 made 3-pointers in the tournament. The 6-foot-6 forward went from averaging 2.4 points in 17 games as a junior to 15.5 points per game on 54% from the field, 48% from 3 and 80% from the foul-line as a senior, and he’ll continue playing in college at Midland next year.

Junior Levi Webb added 14 points, five rebounds and three assists, capping a breakout season that saw him step into a leadership role while averaging nearly 20 points.

The Titans lost the best player in the state in current Drake freshman Bryson Bahl along with two other key senior starters from last year’s title team. In late January, Papio South sat at 8-5 and didn’t look anything like a state championship contender. However, the Titans continued to improve throughout the season, earning a trip to state as a No. 6 seed then making a run to the final to finish 19-7.

“When you can get a team that comes together and just plays for a singleness of purpose, it’s just so much joy, so much gratitude as a coach, and to do it together, that’s what it’s all about,” Hueser said. “I’m very thankful for them and I love them, I love this school, I love the game and I love the opportunity to coach and make some sort of impact on a young life.”

NebPreps All-Tournament Team

>> MOP — Lincoln Southwest JR Dakari Wilson: 21.3 PPG, 45.7% 3FG, 5.0 RPG, 1.3 SPG

>> Lincoln Southwest SR Uzziah Sanders: 20.0 PPG, 88.9% FT, 4.0 RPG, 3.0 SPG

>> Papillion-La Vista South JR Levi Webb: 19.7 PPG, 50% FG, 85% FT, 6.0 RPG, 5.0 APG, 2.3 SPG

>> Papillion-La Vista South SR Connor Falkinburg: 17.3 PPG, 52.9% FG (52% 3FG), 75% FT, 6.7 RPG, 1.3 BPG

>> Bellevue West JR Bryce Johnson Jr.: 25.0 PPG, 64.5% FG (50% 3FG), 6.5 RPG, 6.0 APG, 3.0 SPG

 

Class C2

No. 2 Bergan Catholic 59, No. 5 Norfolk Catholic 50

One year ago, Bergan Catholic entered the state tournament as an eighth-seeded underdog and ran through the competition to win a state title.

The Knights returned everyone from that team for their repeat campaign, and Coach Ryan Mlnarik said after spending a couple months deliberating what approach to take heading into the 2025-26 season, he arrived at setting three expectations: practice like a champion (set the tone with how hard they work), walk around like a champion (be ready to get everyone’s best shot every night) and play like a champion (handle adversity and stick together).

The Knights did just that and ended the season in the same position they’ve occupied since cutting down the nets in 2025: ranked atop Class C2. Bergan capped a 28-1 season with a nine-point win over Norfolk Catholic.

“Norfolk Catholic, they made it really hard,” Mlnarik said. “They made it really difficult. They’ve got such a big zone. We’re not used to playing against that type of zone. It’s a little unconventional, they play on the arc and they made it very difficult. But these guys’ shoulders were big enough, we weathered it, we handled it. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t pretty; part of that was our fault, but part of that, I think, was Norfolk Catholic as well. These guys found a way to get it done and what a great accomplishment. They set the school record for wins in a season, and I’m really proud of them.”

Norfolk Catholic opened the scoring with a 3-pointer from senior Gavin Schutt and led the entire first quarter, holding Bergan to 10 points on 4-for-11 shooting with four turnovers.

However, the Bergan Knights found a rhythm in the second period, scoring the first three buckets to take the lead. Schutt tied it up for the only time in the game with another trey, but Bergan closed the half on a 15-5 run to take a 21-31 lead into halftime.

That lead swelled to 19 late in the third quarter before the Norfolk Knights began to chip away at it in the fourth, hitting back-to-back 3s to cut it to five with just over two minutes to play. On the next possession, senior big man Gavin Baker attacked the basket and drew a second defender before dropping the ball off to junior sniper Cale Sheets along the baseline. Instead of dribbling the ball out to the 3-point line where he typically feels more comfortable (more than 70% of his shot attempts this season were 3s), Sheets caught the ball, turned around and sank the short jump shot to halt the momentum, and Bergen shut Norfolk Catholic out the rest of the way.

“I’ll be honest — I think that’s the first time I’ve seen Cale take that shot,” Mlnarik said. “Cale doesn’t shoot unless it’s a 3. He caught it and reverse-pivoted and hit a short-corner 10-footer. You don’t see him in the gym doing that; he’s shooting 3s or he’s shooting four or five feet behind the arc shooting those. To be able to have the confidence to be able to take that shot and make it, that was huge …

“They had a lot of momentum. Our kids are winners; they responded and made plays when they needed to.”

The big story on Saturday was Baker, as it has been all tournament and, truly, all season long. The 6-foot-7 forward dropped back-to-back 30-point double-doubles in the semifinals, finishing with 30 points on 13-for-20 from the field and 4-for-6 from the line and 11 rebounds, including four on the offensive end.

“It was probably the feeling that it’d be the last time that I was going to be able to suit up with the Bergan boys,” said Baker, “and it was probably just the feeling that I wanted to go out on a big bang with them and I didn’t want to leave anything left, that I could have given more.”

For the tournament, Baker averaged 26.0 points on nearly 60% shooting and 10.3 rebounds — elevated from his already dominant season averages of 21.9 and 8.3 rebounds. He plans to study engineering at Omaha next season and is in discussion to walk on for the basketball team.

“Gavin’s had to deal with a lot in terms of double-teams and triple-teams and teams coming down hard on the bounce,” Mlnarik said. “We got here before the tournament, we just said, ‘All right, Gavin, you know what? We’re not going to be dealing with double-teams. When you get it, turn and shoot it. Don’t even bounce the thing; turn and shoot it.’ His short corner game, his mid-range game, his high post game, it was impressive, and that’s what he did a lot: he just turned and shot it. That doesn’t let a double-team get there.

“He wanted the ball and he carried this team and it’s just a great team that understands what our strengths are and everybody’s role and it was great to see them have that success this tournament.”

Schutt led the red Knights with 23 points while shooting 8-for-15, including 3-for-8 from 3, and 4-for-5 from the foul line.

>> Third-Place Game: No. 6 Freeman 39, No. 1 Yutan 36

NebPreps All-Tournament Team

>> MOP — Bergan Catholic SR Gavin Baker: 26.0 PPG, 59.3% FG, 66.7% FT, 10.3 RPG (4.7 ORPG), 2.7 APG, 2.3 BPG

>> Bergan Catholic JR Trent Mlnarik: 10.0 PPG, 68.4% FG, 7.0 RPG (2.7 ORPG), 1.7 SPG

>> Norfolk Catholic SR Gavin Schutt: 19.3 PPG, 48.8% FG (38.1% 3FG), 6.7 RPG, 2.7 APG

>> Yutan JR Ryan Maguire: 18.3 PPG

>> Freeman SR Easton Buss: 11.7 PPG

 

Class B

No. 3 Scottsbluff 68, No. 4 Elkhorn North 56

One of the all-time greats at Scottsbluff capped his career with the one thing that has eluded a really successful Bearcat program since 2012: a state championship.

Nate Kelley grew up watching players like Trent Harris, Dru Kuxhausen, Landon Walker, Jasiya DeOllos and other great Bearcats lead their teams to Lincoln only to come up short. He watched his own teams do so his first three seasons.

However, Kelley and his fellow seniors made the most of their opportunity, toppling Elkhorn North Saturday to earn the right to cut down the nets.

“It feels amazing,” Kelley said. “I’ve seen a lot of good players, a lot of good teams. Down here, it’s just an experience thing with a huge environment. I felt like our team was really confident coming in this year, and I trusted my guys that we were going to be able to pull through.”

Scottsbluff lost in the first round at state in 2023 and in the second round in 2024 then finished as runner-up in 2025. On Saturday, the Bearcats (24-4) finally finished the job as the No. 3 seed in this year’s field.

“I think it’s a huge part to be in the fire and to be a part of it, whether you win or lose,” Scottsbluff coach Scott Gullion said. “You kind of have to be in it to be able to get over that hump. Part of the reason we scheduled the way we did was we thought we had a really good team coming back. We had our bumps this year, but we played those games for a reason, and this group just continued to get better from the first day.

“If you told me we’d be sitting here after our first weekend, I would have told you you’re crazy. They just continue to come to work and continue to work and improve in a lot of facets of the game, specifically defense. We were a bad defensive team early on, and now I think we’re a pretty good defensive team.”

The Bearcats held runner-up Elkhorn North to 37% shooting in the game — and shot 52.1% on their end — to claim the double-digit victory.

Scottsbluff took it to Elkhorn North from the opening tip, with junior Caleb Burda drilling a 3 on the Bearcats’ first possession to spark a 21-7 start to the game. The Wolves settled in and made a push in the second quarter, cutting the deficit from 14 down to seven. However, Burda found senior Rylee Meininger open in the corner for a 3, then senior Oliver Carpenter sold out for a steal and got the ball to Kelley, who pushed it ahead and found Meininger in the other corner for another triple to push the lead back to double figures heading into halftime

“It was huge,” Gullion said of the sequence. “Those are the type of plays and need to happen in games like that. Rylee, I don’t know if he scored at that point; I’m not sure. We were just on him, like, we’ve got to be aggressive. Then he finally gets one to fall, and then the next one, I was like, ‘Well, that one’s in.’ Once he starts to see some fall, the hoop starts to look really big for him and he and he starts to get a lot more aggressive.”

Elkhorn North cut it to single digits a handful of times in the third quarter, but Scottsbluff pushed it back to 13 and kept it in double figures throughout the fourth. Meininger went off for 14 points in the second half to finish with a game-high 23, shooting 8-of-14 from the field (including 4-of-9 from 3) and 3-of-3 from the foul line. Kelley assisted half of Meininger’s buckets, and the senior sharp-shooter said they’ve been building chemistry on the court together since second grade.

“I was really pleased with how our guys came out and played, getting after it right away, going on a run,” Gullion said. “Caleb Burda hit some huge shots early to get us really rolling and guys were playing defense, flying around. Then I know we kind of got a little stagnant in the second quarter, I thought, but this team just never quits. They’re on it all the time defensively, and that’s really what separated us today.”

Burda finished with nine points, hitting three triples for the second straight game. As a team, Scottsbluff went 9-for-24 from deep while holding Elkhorn North to 6-for-18.

The star of the show was Kelley. He picked apart every defensive coverage Elkhorn North threw at him and generated most of those 3-point looks. The 6-foot UNK commit finished with 22 points, eight assists and six rebounds to cap a phenomenal state tournament run and add a state championship to his resume. The multi-sport star for the Bearcats has “accomplished pretty much everything a high school guy can accomplish,” according to Gullion.

“He owns several records for our school,” Gullion continued. “He made four state tournaments … He started every game and played a lot of minutes in the last three years, but on top of that, Nate’s such a great teammate. He wants to see his other guys succeed, and you see that in the way he plays the game, the way he interacts. It’s been like that since our Junior Bearcats, our youth travel teams, and he was doing that back then, and he’s kind of shown how to do it the right way.”

Senior Sutton Piatkowski led the Wolves with 18 points and six rebounds, while junior Carter Peterson added 13 points on 3-of-4 from the field (2-of-3 from 3) and 5-of-5 from the line, five rebounds and two blocks.

NebPreps All-Tournament Team

>> MOP — Scottsbluff SR Nate Kelley: 23.0 PPG, 55.8% FG (44.4% 3FG), 76.5% FT, 6.7 APG, 6.0 RPG, 2.0 SPG

>> Scottsbluff SR Rylee Meininger: 15.7 PPG, 60.0% FG (46.2% 3FG), 83.3% FT, 4.0 RPG, 1.7 SPG

>> Elkhorn North JR Kellen Murphy: 14.0 PPG, 40.9% 3FG, 84.6% FT, 4.3 RPG, 2.0 APG

>> Norris JR Shane Holen: 19.0 PPG, 59.3% FG, 6.0 RPG

>> Skutt Catholic SR George Ziebell: 16.5 PPG, 55.0% FG, 10.0 RPG (3.5 ORPG), 2.0 BPG

 

Class D1

No. 1 Howells-Dodge 57, No. 5 McCool Junction 39

The nightcap at Pinnacle Bank Arena saw the first Class D1 boy-girl basketball state title sweep in 20 years as the Jaguar boys followed in the girls’ footsteps to bring the hardware back home to their communities.

“It’s huge,” Howells-Dodge coach Kevin Janata said. “It just shows the standard for both communities, Howells and Dodge, and how we’re willing to put in the time and the work. The girls set the bar pretty high last week and it was like, ‘That’s awesome; let’s go see if we can do the same,’ and we got ‘er done.”

The journey to this championship began a year ago when the Jaguars made it to the title game only to fall short to Johnson-Brock. They reloaded for another run this year and went 26-3, winning all three games at the state tournament by double figures.

“We were really close last year,” senior Andre Martin said. “I feel like the only thing that changed is we went harder in practices this year. We set a standard for ourselves, and we set a goal to kind of meet that standard.”

The Howells-Dodge defense set the tone from the opening tip as the Jaguars held the Mustangs to four points in the first period, at least until Carson McDonald banked in a 3 just before the buzzer to cut Howells-Dodge lead to 14-7 at the quarter break.

The Jaguars opened the second quarter with a 6-0 run and maintained a double-digit lead until McDonald cut it to nine at halftime with a put-back. McCool Junction cut it to six twice in the third quarter, and each time Howells-Dodge answered with a 3-pointer, one each from seniors Nathan Tomcak and Ethan Prusa. The Jaguars opened the fourth with a 12-0 run to push the lead to 21 then cruised to the finish.

“The last couple times we’ve been down here, we kind of had an underdog mentality that we were going to pull the upset,” Janata said. “It was a little bit different kind of being the favorite this time. It was just like, ‘Hey, we’re not going to panic in these situations. We’re a good team, we’ve got great shooters and we’re going to go find our shots.’”

Junior Chase Luther led the Jaguars with 14 points, four rebounds and three steals. Martin added 13 points and eight rebounds, shooting 6-for-8 with an and-one. Pruse chipped in 11 points while going 3-for-7 from deep. Howells-Dodge held McCool Junction to 31.8% shooting.

The Jaguars had a different leading scorer in each of the three games at state, with each of their five starters scoring in double figures at least once.

“Our five together is better than most fives,” Janata said. “You look in this tournament, there were a lot of great individual players. [Fullerton’s Kane] Wetovick was 22 a game, [Elm Creek’s Quin] Oberg was 20-something a game, McDonald was 18, and you see our guys, ‘Hey, there’s a 13, but another 13, another 13, a 10 and an eight, and it’s like our five together is pretty good, and when we play as five, we’re pretty darn hard to beat.”

McDonald led the Mustangs with 15 points while sophomore Jameson Weiss chipped in 10 points. The Mustangs pulled off two upsets at state to reach the 21-win threshold and the title game as a No. 6 seed but couldn’t find enough offense to knock off a talented Howells-Dodge squad.

>> Third-Place Game: No. 2 Lutheran High Northeast 65, No. 4 Elm Creek 50

NebPreps All-Tournament Team

>> MOP — Howells-Dodge SR Andre Martin: 15.3 PPG, 58.8% FG, 100% FT, 8.3 RPG (2.3 ORPG)

>> Howells-Dodge SR Dane Meyer: 6.0 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 6.7 APG, 1.7 SPG

>> McCool Junction SO Jameson Weiss: 11.0 PPG, 55.6% FG (57.1% 3FG), 83.3% FT, 3.0 RPG

>> Elm Creek SR Quin Oberg: 20.0 PPG

>> Lutheran High Northeast SR Cole Lawless: 15.0 PPG