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GRAND ISLAND — Grand Island Central Catholic buckled down on defense and found just enough scoring to rally for a 44-37 home-court victory over Boys Town Friday night in the Centennial Conference Tournament semifinals.

The Crusaders, rated No. 3 in Class C-2 by the Omaha World-Herald, limited the Class C-1 No. 7 Cowboys to 27.5% shooting (14 of 51) from the floor. Central Catholic also forced 12 turnovers, becoming the first team below the Class B level to beat Boys Town this season.

Braylon Wolfe led GICC (14-3) with 18 points, finishing 8 of 8 from the free-throw line. Thomas Liban added eight points and nine rebounds and Thomas Birch had eight points for the Crusaders.

Tyler Segar was 5 of 12 from beyond the arc to lead Boys Town with 17 points. Six-foot-7 post Marqas Gray, who entered the contest averaging 17 points per game, was limited to seven points, but did grab 11 rebounds as the Cowboys (9-7) had a 40-33 advantage on the glass.

GICC also struggled shooting from the floor, going 11 of 48 (22.9%). However, the Crusaders committed just four turnovers and finished 17 of 20 from the free-throw line, including going 14 of 15 at the charity stripe in the second half.

Central Catholic was held scoreless for the first 4:09 and Boys Town built a 17-9 lead on Gray’s putback with 3:30 remaining in the second quarter. However, the Crusaders closed the first half with a 15-2 spree, highlighted by 3-pointers from Liban, Birch and Wolfe.

Kyle Kelly’s follow-up basket on a missed layup gave GICC its first lead at 21-19 with 59 seconds left before the intermission. The Crusaders never trailed again and led 31-28 after three quarters.

Boys Town cut its deficit to 36-34 on a Segar 3-pointer with 2:12 to play. However, GICC was 8 of 8 from the free-throw line over the final 1:32 to seal the victory with Wolfe going 6 of 6 on foul shots in that span.

The win sends the Crusaders into Saturday’s 5:45 p.m. championship game against host Lincoln Lutheran, which beat Class C-1 No. 2 Omaha Concordia 53-51 in the other semifinal on Friday. The Class C-1 third-rated Warriors (15-2) previously beat GICC 54-44 on Dec. 7 in the GICC Early Bird Tournament.

GICC 44, Boys Town 37
Boys Town (9-7)…….9 10 9 9—37
GICC (14-3)…………..6 18 7 13—44
BOYS TOWN—Nyree Poteet 4, Tyler Segar 17, DePree Pleasant 2, Jamal Morris 4, Marqas Gray 7, LaDanian Blackwell 3.
GICC—Braylon Wolfe 18, Thomas Liban 8, Thomas Birch 8, Conner Haney 3, Kyle Kelly 5, Brandon Cloud 2.