LINCOLN — Leave it to a kid named Trey to hit a big 3-pointer during action Friday at the Devaney Center.

South Sioux City guard Trey Closter hit a key 3-pointer in the fourth quarter and the Cardinals went on to upend defending state champion Ralston 65-55 in a Class B semfinal. The shot came shortly after the Rams had whittled a 12-point deficit down to two, and the Cardinals held their lead to the end.

But South Sioux coach Terry Comstock said he wasn't certain whether the junior forward was going to take the shot, which came right in front of the Cardinals' bench.

“He was looking for someone to pass to,'' Comstock said, “and all of us coaches were yelling at him to shoot it. That turned out to be a big basket in the game.''

Drawing attention

South Sioux City sophomore forward Mike Gesell might have been the reason there were at least two interested college head coaches watching the Cardinals' semifinal game.

Nebraska's Doc Sadler and Creighton's Dana Altman looked on as South Sioux posted a 65-55 victory. Gesell, who scored a game-high 22 points, already has received five Division I scholarship offers — including ones from the Huskers and the Bluejays.

Thrill of victory

The Class A semifinal between Norfolk and Omaha Creighton Prep on Friday night provided some of the highest drama of the tourney.

With the game tied at 51, the Junior Jays held the ball for almost two minutes in an attempt to get the final shot. But Prep turned the ball over in the closing seconds when a pass by Nick Davis was stolen by the Panthers' Jonah Bradley.

The ball soon ended up in the hands of senior guard Brady Lollman, who drove the baseline and put up a short shot that dropped through at the final horn. The winning basket triggered a huge eruption from the Norfolk fans, who were out in force at the Devaney Center.

Word spreads quickly

The Lincoln Southeast students hadn't even entered the courtside area for the late Class A semifinal, and they already knew Norfolk's Brady Lollman had made a last-second basket to defeat Omaha Creighton Prep.

As they were waiting to be admitted following the Panthers' 53-51 win, they saw the Norfolk player near the locker rooms and started chanting “Brady! Brady! Brady!'' Prep coach Josh Luedtke also was there, conducting postgame interviews with reporters.

“You can see the reaction of everybody,'' the coach said. “People love it when Prep gets beat.'

Getting it done

When Chadron’s Zach Bargen took a nasty spill in the second quarter of the Class C-1 semifinal against Minden, you couldn’t blame Cardinals coach Craig Nobiling for holding his breath.

He knew Chadron desperately needed the senior guard, and he knew about Bargen’s history of injuries.

“He always plays so hard,’’ Nobiling said. “He broke his collarbone a few years ago and that’s the thing I always think about when he goes down hard like he did today.’’

But Bargen, who was undercut while attempting a fast-break layup, didn’t let that incident slow him down. He finished with a game-high 23 points — including 15 in the second half — as the Cardinals rallied to defeat Minden 55-47.

The Cardinals stretched their win streak to 16 games and boosted their overall record to 24-2.

“Bargen put us on his shoulders out there,’’ Nobiling said. “We ran some special plays just for him because he’s such an athletic kid.’’

Scariest sight

The most outlandish outfit of the day was probably the fairy princess costume — complete with wings — that a kid was wearing in the Ralston student section. More subtle was the kid dressed up like a big slice of pepperoni pizza or the chef standing in the middle of several ninjas.

Honorable mention goes to the four guys wearing the skirts in the front row of the Omaha Skutt student section. That only served to remind us that some guys — actually, all guys — should just not wear skirts.

Taking a tumble

The tension of the Ralston-South Sioux game was broken at least for a few moments when official Rich Buchmann of Lincoln accidentally tripped near midcourt while running toward the other end.

Buchmann smiled, scrambled to his feet and went back to his officiating.

Another cliffhanger

Omaha Central senior guard Deverell Biggs scored a career-high 35 points Friday night, but reporters mostly wanted to talk to him about the pass he made in the closing seconds of the Eagles’ dramatic 53-52 win over Lincoln Southeast.

After the Knights had taken a 52-51 on two free throws with 11.2 seconds left, Biggs charged downcourt with the ball and drove into the lane. He leaped and appeared ready to shoot, but dished off to freshman center Akoy Agau underneath for what proved to be the winning basket.

“I was going to shoot it, but I saw him at the last second,’’ Biggs said. “Even though he’s only a freshman, I think he’s the best center in the state.’’

Attendance update

More than 34,000 fans attended the second day of the state tourney, pushing the two-day total over 77,000. Friday's breakdown:

Devaney Center: Morning session, 7,020; afternoon session, 7,272; evening session, 10,173. Total, 24,465.

Pershing Cener: Morning, 2,558; afternoon, 3,681; evening, 4,142. Total, 10,381.

Two-site attendance Friday: 34,846.

Two-day attendance: 77,587.

— Mike Patterson

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