• Photo Showcase: Friday's semifinals

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LINCOLN — For a team that counts on out-shooting its opponent, sometimes by obscene margins, none of the Ravenna Bluejays could feel comfortable during Friday's Class C-2 semifinal against Johnson County Central.

Ravenna struggled mightily on their customary barrage of 3-pointers, but the defending state champions got 21 points from senior John Klosterman and relied on their defense to seal a thrilling 60-57 win that wasn't decided until Johnson County Central's Vince Sherman missed a halfcourt, desperation heave at the buzzer.

The Bluejays returned to the state championship game despite a 9-for-34 performance on 3-pointers, coming one night after they finished 10-for-17 from beyond the arc against Sutton in the quarterfinals.

"Nothing was falling, and that's the old mystique of the state tournament," said Ravenna coach Paul Beranek. "You shoot good one night and you're not going to shoot very good the next."

Instead, the Bluejays ended the game scoring their final five points at the foul line and held on thanks to a scrambling, pressure defense.

Trevor Cyboron hit a pair of free throws to put Ravenna up 57-55 with 1:07 to play, but the Thunderbirds quickly tied it on a baseline jumper from senior Justin Kosmicki, who finished with 21 points.

After Cyboron went 1-for-2 at the line on the Bluejays' next possession, Kosmicki again had the ball in his hands and a chance to give JCC the lead but misfired from nearly the same spot after dribbling through four defenders. Ravenna's Sean Payne snared the rebound and hit another free throw to push the lead to 59-57 with 6.4 seconds left. The Bluejays then tipped the inbounds pass into the hands of Theison Anderson, who made one more foul shot for the final margin.

"We just left one a little short there and missed a bunny before that," JCC coach Chris Hutt said. "It wasn't like we didn't have opportunities.
I can't give our kids enough credit. I think we earned a lot of respect for our program tonight."

Senior Derek Kuhl scored 13 of his team-high 22 points in the second half for the Thunderbirds, which shot a higher percentage than the Bluejays (51 to 36 percent) but took 13 fewer shots.

The Thunderbirds never shrank from facing the defending state champions and took an early 16-6 lead before the Bluejays started hitting some shots. Ravenna took 8 of its first 9 shots from beyond the 3-point arc against the Thunderbirds' zone, and made its final two of the first quarter as part of a 10-0 run to tie the game 16-16.

JCC led 49-44 early in the fourth but Ravenna got 3-pointers from Klosterman, Anderson, and Connor Beranek to pull back in front.

Ravenna (24-3) will play Fremon Bergan for its second straight state title.

"It means a lot to our kids because we were fortunate enough to beat these guys," Paul Beranek said. "To be honest with you, it was our No. 1 goal, to play in the championship again, but there are a lot of obstacles down here."

Ravenna (24-3)....................14 17 13 16 -- 60
Johnson Co. Central (23-4)......16 14 15 12 -- 57
• R: John Klosterman 21, Trevor Cyboron 10, Connor Beranek 9, Sean Payne 7, Theison Anderson 6, Riley Beranek 5, Brett Douglas 2
• JCC: Derek Kuhl 22, Justin Kosmicki 21, Cody Miller 8, Vince Sherman 3, Nate Kuhl 2, Logan Dorsey 1

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