Omaha North rallied from an 18-point deficit to take down Papillion-La Vista South in the A-4 district final, earning a chance to cut down the nets at home with a 61-58 victory.
Story of the Game
The game came down to a 3 at the buzzer rimming out, but it took a couple of wild swings and some stellar second-half defense from the Vikings to get there.
North came out firing, hitting its first four 3s to race out to a 14-6 lead. However, the Vikings didn’t connect from deep again the rest of the night, missing their last 11 attempts.
Instead, the Titans caught fire. They put together a 36-10 run spanning the first and second quarters to turn that deficit into an 18-point lead. The Titans shot 7-for-7 from deep in the second quarter and added a one-foot fadeaway from Bryson Bahl, assisting on all eight field goals as they put up 24 points in the period.
However, the Vikings scored the last four points of the half including a monster dunk from Mynor Strong to make it 42-28 at halftime.
The Titans hit a couple more 3s early in the third quarter to extend the lead back to eight, but North used a strong close to the period to trim the deficit to 10 heading into the fourth at 56-46.
“We just really tell the kids one possession at a time, just try to win the next possession,” Omaha North coach Thomas Liechti said. “No matter what happened in the previous one, just go win the next one. We tell them if we can get three stops in a row multiple times throughout a game in sequences, then we’re probably going to put ourselves in a good position to win.”
The Vikings carried their momentum into the fourth quarter and ratcheted their intensity up another few notches, holding the Titans to two points in the fourth quarter. The Vikings continued to chip away at the deficit throughout the period, putting together stop after stop. Junior Bobby Brown finally put the Vikings back in front with a steal and score with 45 seconds remaining.
The Vikings forced another turnover on the following possession and Strong split a pair of free throws to put North up by two. The Titans got the ball inside to Bahl and he drew a foul with 6.6 on the clock, but he missed the first free-throw then the Titans crossed the line early as he intentionally missed the second.
Strong split another pair of free throws to make it a three-point game with 5.7 to play, then senior Wes Frost’s 3 at the buzzer caught the back rim and popped out. The Titans went 0-for-8 from the field with seven turnovers in the final period.
“Defensively, that’s what we hang our hat on, that’s what we spend the majority of our practices on and the kids are bought in … I just feel like we’re relentless in the halfcourt,” Liechti said. “I just feel like we take a lot of pride in playing hard and it showed. There was no panic, we didn’t blink. We didn’t blink. They really didn’t blink. They just kept going, man. There were times we were down 15, 16, 18 and I could hear them, they knew, they were like ‘We’re all right, we’re all right.’ So I’m just really proud of them.”
With the win, the Vikings (21-3) qualified for state for the first time since 2014.
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Coach Speak
“Just really proud of our kids,” Liechti said. “It’s the second time [against Papillion-La Vista South]; we’ve been here, done that this season. We told our kids at halftime not to blink, just make the easy plays consistently, not try to do too much. We told them ‘You’re not going to erase an 18-point deficit in one play, it’s possession by possession, little by little,’ and we didn’t blink. No timeouts called in the second half. The kids earned their confidence and when they start getting their confidence, you’ve just got to let them ride. They’ve been working for this since last spring, and they deserve all the credit in the world.”
“It’s only the fourth time North’s been to state in my entire life, and I keep telling the kids that — ’92, ‘97 and ’14,” Liechti said. “It’s been great, it’s been absolutely great. It’s been baby steps, but progression every year, just because of the way that we do things behind the scenes, the way we do things internally. I wouldn’t change anything.”
Standout Performers
Senior Dekhi Turner led the Vikings with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Fellow seniors Strong and DeAndre Harper scored 11 points apiece while Strong added six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Brown provided a big spark off the bench as well, scoring all 10 of his points in the second half to spark the comeback. He shot 4-of-6 from the field and 2-of-2 from the line and added six rebounds to his line.
“Bobby really stepped up, and I’m really proud of him to get that confidence because he needed that and he really earned it, so very happy for him,” Liechti said.
Bahl finished with a game-high 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocks with Omaha Mavericks head coach Chris Crutchfield in the crowd watching him play. He hit six of his first seven shots, but the Vikings limited him to three points and 0-for-3 shooting in the last 15 minutes of the game.
Fellow juniors Jayden Herrera and Reece Kircher scored in double figures as well. Hererra went 4-for-4 from deep and added a pair of free throws for 14 points, all in the first half. Kircher chipped in 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Other Class A District Results
Tuesday’s results knocked the Titans out of postseason contention as Creighton Prep secured the wildcard.
In the A-3 district final, Omaha Westside pulled away from Omaha Bryan in the second half for a 67-41 victory. Senior Kevin Stubblefield led four Warriors in double figures with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists, shooting 7-of-11 from the field (2-of-5 from 3) and 3-of-5 from the line.
In the A-6 final, Omaha Central made the drive down I-80 to Lincoln and took down Pius X 63-49 for the second road win of the Class A district finals.
Finally, in the A-7 final, Gretna survived a halfcourt heave at the buzzer to top Kearney 65-63. The team that lost its beloved head coach, Brad Feeken, to cancer in December won 11 of its last 12 games to qualify for state.
Gretna coach Bill Heard with an @pinnbank postgame conversation after the Dragons 65-63 win at Kearney to send the Dragons to state. #nebpreps pic.twitter.com/VZ7v5gKU2r
— Mike Sautter (@MikeSautter_) February 28, 2024
The eight teams heading to Pinnacle Bank Arena are Bellevue West, Millard North, Omaha Westside, Omaha North, Omaha Central, Lincoln Southeast, Gretna and Creighton Prep.
