Terry Douglass, Central Nebraska Today
GRAND ISLAND — Seemingly in control for the first three quarters, second-seeded Adams Central had to rally from a 44-40 deficit in the final 1:27 to pull out a 47-44 victory over third-seeded Malcolm Tuesday night in a Class C-1, Subdistrict semifinal at Grand Island Central Catholic.
With the win, the Patriots advanced to Thursday’s 7 p.m. subdistrict title game against top-seeded and No. 3-rated (Omaha World-Herald) GICC Crusaders.
Riley Propp, who shot 8 of 11 from the field with 4 of 6 marksmanship from beyond the arc, led the way for Adams Central with a game-high 20 points. Kowen Rader added 14 points, Trey Slechta scored nine and point-guard JJ Foster dished out eight assists for the Patriots.
Miles McGill had 16 points for Malcolm, including a jumper in the lane with 6:14 remaining to give his team its first lead at 35-33. Gavin Little had 13 points and Preston Kucera scored 11 for the Clippers (12-11), who were 0 of 12 shooting in the first quarter and trailed 9-1 after the opening break.
Rader started Adams Central’s comeback with a 3-pointer, slicing Malcolm’s lead to 44-43 with 1:27 to go. Propp’s offensive rebound and basket with 22 seconds left put the Patriots in front for good and Rader added two free throws with 6.4 seconds left.
Malcolm’s last-second 3-point attempt to tie banked off the glass and rattled the rim, but was no good.
Adams Central 47, Malcolm 44
Malcolm (12-11)………………1 11 19 13—44
Adams Central (15-8)………9 10 14 14—47
MALCOLM—Preston Kucera 11, Chase Smith 2, Gavin Little 13, Miles McGill 16, Nolan Duzik 2.
ADAMS CENTRAL—Riley Propp 20, Trey Slechta 9, Kowen Rader 14, Weston Nienhueser 4.
GICC 51, Broken Bow 37
GRAND ISLAND — Trailing 10-9 after the first quarter, top-seeded Grand Island Central Catholic outscored Broken Bow 21-4 in the second on the way to a 51-37 victory in Tuesday’s first C1-9 subdistrict semifinal.
Connor Haney scored a game-high 18 points to lead the Crusaders (20-5). Thomas Birch added 14 points for GICC.
Dominic Nowak and Drew Ellis scored 13 points apiece for the Indians (11-14).
GICC advanced to host Adams Central in the C1-9 subdistrict final on Thursday. The Crusaders defeated the Patriots 47-33 back on Jan. 24 in their previous meeting at GICC.
GICC 51, Broken Bow 37
Broken Bow (11-14)…………10 4 6 17—37
GICC (20-5)……………………..9 21 12 9—51
BROKEN BOW—Cash Kleeb 1, Dominic Nowak 13, Drew Ellis 13, Kyan Tobey 8, Kale Kulhanek 2.
GICC—Braylon Wolfe 6, Dax Gellatly 3, Jack Alberts 3, Thomas Birch 14, Connor Haney 18, Brandon Cloud 4, Isaac Urbanski 3.
