It was day two at the Thunder Classic Boys Tournament in Seneca on Thursday and the matchups were more competitive as Falls City and Jackson Heights advanced to the championship game and Hiawatha and Silver Lake also prevailed to move into the 5th place matchup on Saturday.  

Semifinal  - Falls City 56, Marysville 30
The Tigers didn't take the lead until the three-minute mark in the first quarter with an 8-0 burst that put them ahead for good.  Leading 14-7 after one quarter, Falls City went on a 19-8 blitz in the second quarter and started the second half on a 10-1 run to put the game away.  Jack Hartman scored 14 points and Kyle Leafty added 12 while Zach Jordening added 9 as the Tigers improved to 14-1 and advanced to the championship game for the third straight year.  Marysville got 8 points from Zach Pieschl and Chase Green, but committed 20 turnovers and was 2 of 9 at the line before falling to 5-7.  

Semifinal - Jackson Heights 71, Nemaha Central 65
In a battle of ranked team with just one loss each, Jackson Heights jumped to the early lead as Zane Richter scored 16 points in the first quarter and the Ccbras led 29-18 after 8 minutes.  Richter kept going and went on to score a season high 40 points after his 31 point effort on Tuesday as Jackson Heights improved to 9-1 on the season.  Nemaha had 8 early turnovers but cut the lead to 41-34 at halftime.  

The four-time defending tournament champs had their way inside most of the night on offense and got as close as 64-61 with just under two minutes remaining on a couple treys by Tristan Allen.  Yet, Jackson Heights answered with a Richter basket out of a timeout and the Cobras hit 14 of 18 free throws, including 7 of 9 in the fourth quarter to keep arms distance with the lead.  Nemaha made just 11 of 22 at the charity stripe but did get 22 points from Luke Holthaus and 13 from Abe Elder inside before falling to 9-2 on the season. Wyatt Olberding added 9 for Jackson Heights who hit 7 trifecta's and shot and unbelievable percentage from the field in their highest scoring game of the season.  

Consolation = Hiawatha 48, Horton 42
The Chargers held a 13-10 lead after one quarter but Hiawatha used a 15-8 second quarter to take the lead for good.  Joseph Kunkel had 20 points for the Redhawks while Conner Winters added 14 in Hiawatha's second win of the season.  Alec Cowley scored 11 and Derrick Stone 10 for hte Chargers, who will play St. Mary's in the seventh place game at 2:30 on Saturday.

Consolation = Silver Lake 59, St. Mary's 34
Silver Lake led from start to finish and Brennan Damman scored 22 points as the Eagles (5-5) cruised to the victory and will face Hiawatha in the 5th place game Saturday at 4:00 PM.

Championship Saturday 7:00 PM - Falls City vs. Jackson Heights live on KNZA 103.9 FM   

Both teams are vying for their third championship in this tournament with Falls City winning in 2006 and 2010 and Jackson Heights winning in 1981 and 1985.