Class C-1: St. Cecilia, Bennington advance to finals

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Friday's Class C-1 results:

Hastings St. Cecilia 46, Pierce 36: Hook up against the Class C-1 state football champion from last fall on the basketball court and a little physical contact can be expected.

Hastings St. Cecilia held up to the relentless Pierce pressure and matched the Bluejays’ defensive intensity to earn a 46-36 victory against Class C-1’s top-ranked team in the semifinals Friday at the Devaney Sports Center.

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Pierce's Corey Woslager (white) shoots in fourth-quarter action. Hastings St. Cecilia won, 46-36. (Ted Kirk)

Pierce's Corey Woslager (white) shoots in fourth-quarter action. Hastings St. Cecilia won, 46-36. (Ted Kirk)

With the win, the No. 3 Bluehawks (22-2) advance to their first state championship game since 1969 as they face off against No. 2 Bennington at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Pierce, meanwhile, lost for the first time in 25 games.

“It was tough out there,’’ said Jake Hamburger, who finished with 10 points for St. Cecilia. “We’re a physical team and so are they. We knew there would be banging on the inside, but you know it’s rough when there’s banging on the outside, too.”

St. Cecilia never trailed after the first two minutes of the game, but the Bluehawks failed to build a comfortable margin. They led 19-14 at halftime, but Pierce came back to tie it at 22 early in the third quarter on a layup by Jacob Woslager, who led the Bluejays with 13 points.

The Bluehawks, who avenged a 57-45 loss to Pierce in the finals of the Doane College Holiday Tournament, took the lead for good 15 seconds later on a Zane Anstine layup.

The Bluehawks took a 30-27 advantage into the final eight minutes, pulling away with 14-of- 23 shooting from the free-throw  line in the fourth quarter. Pierce, 12-of-41 from the field, hit 1 of 14 shots in the final period.

“Our defense did a nice job,” said St. Cecilia coach Rob Kober, who shares head coaching duties with Mike Allsman. “Our bench came in and gave us some good minutes and that allowed our starters to get a break and maintain their defensive intensity.”

Pierce’s leading scorer, all-state football player Eric Koehlmoos, was held to six points, nine below his scoring average. Corey Woslager, Jacob’s cousin, had 10 points and six rebounds.

“It’s a tough game when you don’t make shots,’’ Pierce coach Mike Emory said. “We had good looks in the first half and didn’t make them, we had good looks in the second half and didn’t make them. I thought we defended well for four quarters.’’

--Ron Powell

Bennington 55, Chadron 44: The unbeaten Badgers (25-0) rallied to the win, outscoring top-seeded Chadron 22-7 in the final quarter to move to a Saturday matchup with Hastings St. Cecilia for the C-1 crown.

Chadron (22-3) led 28-24 at halftime and maintained a four-point lead going into the final quarter. That's when Bennington kicked into overdrive, with Denver Klaus leading the way with three three-pointers. He led the Badgers with 19 points, while Patrick Meads added 10.

The Cardinals fell to Saturday's 1:30 p.m. third-place game at Pershing. They were led by Cody Roes, who scored 15 points.