Thursday night was the 3A Boys Sub State Semifinals at the Roundhouse as the top seeds, Sabetha and Nemaha Central advanced to the championship game on Saturday night.

Sabetha 56, Marysville 55

The Bluejays used a huge second quarter to take a commanding 31-20 halftime lead and withstood a late Marysville rally to move to 21-1 on the season.  The lone senior on the Marysville roster, Chase Green, battled foul trouble and made just one basket all night, but his three-pointer came with 3.5 seconds remaining and Sabetha didn't have to inbound the basketball to secure the one-point-victory.  That meant the the one-and-one free throws that Jonah Montgomery and Brock Frey each hit, going 4-4 in the final minute were pivotal. The Bluejays led 38-37 entering the fourth quarter, but never trailed after an 8-0 run to take a 23-16 lead late in the first half. Calder Keehn has a huge night scoring 23 points for the second straight game while Frey added 14 and Alec Kirwan scored 6 of his 9 in the fourth quarter to help secure Sabetha's ninth straight win.  The Jays have won six games by five points or less this year.   

Marysville ends their second season under Coach Scott Brown with a 9-13 record and lost their sixth game of the season scoring at least 55 points.  In fact, the Bulldogs lost games despite scoring 63, 69, 74 and 83 points this season, but managed a three-win-improvement and will be a force to be wreakon with the next couple years.  Sophomore, Gabe Pieschl scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half to lead the Bulldog comeback while the only two juniors on the team, Jayton Haggard and Adam Lindhorst each added 12 points in their second defeat to Sabetha this season.  

Nemaha Central 49, Hiawatha 35

After a back and forth first quarter, Nemaha took a 12-8 lead into the second frame and widened the margin to 25-11 at halftime.  Hiawatha could never get any closer than 7 points, despite four trifecta's made by Redhawk senior, Troy May in the third quarter. Nemaha made five three-pointers themselves on the night and Luke Holthaus helped give the Thunder a huge rebounding advantage with 14 points and 10 of those from offensive rebounds.  Nate Beck added 9 points inside and Trenton Henry came off the bench to score 8 as Nemaha beat Hiawatha by double digits for the third time this season, improving to 18-4 on the season.

May had 14 ponts for the Redhawks while Joseph Kunkel had 13 before fouling out, and also scored all 8 points for Hiawatha in the first quarter of the game.  Hiawatha improved their win total by three victories this year but end their campaign with an 8-14 record, including five losses by five points or less.  

Citizens State Bank and Trust Company of Hiawatha "Players to Bank On."

Calder Keehn of Sabetha and Luke Holthaus for Nemaha Central.