Class A: Omaha Central wins title again

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Saturday's Class A results:

Championship: Omaha Central 59, Bellevue East 58

The execution didn’t quite follow the plan, but the result was just what Omaha Central wanted.

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Omaha Central's Joshua Jones is fouled by Bellevue East's John Bryan (5) during the Class A championship. (Heidi Hoffman)

Omaha Central's Joshua Jones is fouled by Bellevue East's John Bryan (5) during the Class A championship. (Heidi Hoffman)

The Eagles earned a third straight Class A state basketball championship Saturday at the Devaney Sports Center, holding off Bellevue East 59-58.

Trailing 59-56, Bellevue East missed a three-point shot but got the ball back. Central coach Eric Behrens called timeout with seven seconds left to set up his final strategy.

“They were out of timeouts. We told out guys to just make a ring around the arc, give them a layup and if they score, don’t touch the ball. They didn’t exactly do what we wanted,” said Behrens. “ We always have to make it interesting. I don’t know if anybody ever wins one of these that’s easy, but ours have just been wars.”

Bellevue East’s James Futch shoveled the ball to Jarrell Crayton under the basket and the 6-foot-6 junior scored with six seconds left.

“Josh Jones, God bless his soul, of course he inbounded the ball,” said Behrens. “But they couldn’t stop the clock. Even if the layup takes one second, the referee is not going to start the count, so we were just going to make a three-point zone and give them a layup.”

The last-second strategy was necessary after Bellevue East rallied from a 55-47 deficit with 5:01 left in the game. The Eagles didn’t score for the next 4:16. Meanwhile, Crayton made five free throws and dunked after grabbing an offensive rebound to cut the lead to 55-53.

Josh Jones sandwiched two free throws around one by Crayton, and then Futch fed Crayton with 21 seconds left to cut the lead to 57-56. Jones made two more free throws to set up the final scramble.

“We had a chance to win. We talked about getting to the fourth quarter with a chance to win, and I can’t ask for more,” said Bellevue East coach Jason Ryan. “We talked about getting a three. But Jarrell was wide open. We drew up a couple of plays to get Futch off a screen, but we couldn’t get it done.”

Bellevue East was just 6-for-19 from the free-throw line, including 6-for-13 in the final quarter.

“For the year, we’ve actually shot them (free throws) pretty well,” said Ryan. “The third game in a tournament, sometimes you tighten up. If we hit the free throws tonight, it would be a different game.”

Third place: Bellevue West 78, Lincoln High 77

Many people might not be fans of the newly-added state basketball tournament third-place games, but Bellevue West’s Derek Bryant sure is.

The 5-foot-7 senior guard rarely saw extensive action during  regular season and scored just 13 points all year.

Bryant got to play throughout the game Saturday and nearly matched his season point total  in the Thunderbirds’ 78-77 win against Lincoln High.

Although he wished his team could be playing for the state title at the Devaney Sports Center, Bryant, who finished with 10 points, said it was great to play with his fellow seniors one last time.

"Coach (Doug Woodard) just told us to go out here and have fun,” Bryant said. “I mean, it is the last game together for us as seniors. He said to play a little bit of defense, though, but we didn't do that much, but we had fun."

The Links and Thunderbolts had no trouble scoring baskets and put on a show at Pershing Center.

Nine different Lincoln High players scored, while 11 did for Bellevue West.

Seven different players scored for the Links  in the second quarter. Lincoln High’s 29 points in the period gave it a 45-44 halftime lead. 

Lincoln High coach Russ Uhing said it was good to see underclassmen get an opportunity to play a lot of minutes.

The Links entered the final period with a five-point lead, but the Bellevue West seniors regained  the lead midway through the fourth quarter, and the Links couldn’t get it back late in the game.

Although Uhing was pleased with his team’s effort, he said he wouldn’t mind seeing the third-place game dropped next year.

"I wouldn't,” Uhing said. “It's very difficult. When you get into the state tournament, your goal is to get to the finals. The emotions are very different in this (consolation game) than they are in a normal one.”

--Tommy Dahlk.