• Photo Showcase: Iowa high school boys state basketball tournament

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DES MOINES — He looks like he got lost on his way to the junior high game down the street.

But 125-pound freshman Shane Graves on Thursday night etched his name in Sioux City Heelan basketball lore.

The 5-foot-7 Graves took a skip pass from Reed Buckstead, took one dribble to the basket and sank a 5-foot floater over 6-5 Blake Schneden with 2.5 seconds remaining to give the Crusaders a thrilling 46-45 Class 3-A state semifinal victory over the Knights at Wells Fargo Arena.

After time expired, Graves — who's listed at 5-9 but says he's probably 5-7 — raced to the other end of the floor in jubilation. When his teammates finally got to him, they tackled him and everyone fell to the floor.

“At the bottom of the pile, they were saying, ‘We love you, you stupid little freshman!''' Graves said. “I'm just glad my teammates put me in a position to do what I did.''

Sixth-rated and seventh-seeded Heelan (21-4) is into the 3-A finals for the fifth time in 10 years. The Crusaders will try to complete back-to-back state championships on Saturday night at 6:05 against seventh-rated and fifth-seeded Pella (22-3).

Heelan also will try to become the third school in Iowa history to win girls and boys state basketball titles in the same year, following Winfield-Mount Union (1995) and Iowa City High (2008).

“It's been a thought in the back of our mind,'' Heelan senior Zach McCabe said. “This year we want to win both. I got a couple texts, and they were just like, ‘Good luck. We could win boys and girls.'''

Schneden's two free throws put Assumption up 45-42 with 1:03 remaining. Graves, who played only three minutes in the second half, then fearlessly went into the lane and banked in a runner to cut it to one with 46 seconds left.

Heelan then let 30 seconds run off the clock before Alex Malloy fouled Sean Finn. It was Malloy's fifth foul. With 16 seconds left, Finn — the team leader at 78.1 percent from the line — missed both free throws.

McCabe rebounded and charged up the court, but nearly lost control of the ball. It was heading out of bounds, but Buckstead made a lunging save to Michael Malloy, and Heelan called time with 7.0 seconds left.

Joe Rossiter inbounded the ball to Buckstead in the right corner. Heelan coach Tom Betz said the plan was to use McCabe as a decoy and have Michael Malloy slip to the basket.

Heelan coaches and players said Malloy was open, but Buckstead instead fired a skip pass to Graves on the left wing. He took one dribble to the hoop and lifted the soft floater just over the outstretched hand of Schneden.

“He's a money player,'' Betz said. “You don't have freshmen on the varsity if they're not money players.''

The 6-7 McCabe made a dramatic turnaround in his game in the second half. At halftime he had three points, five turnovers and no assists. He finished with 19 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

“I didn't want my season to end like that, not being aggressive,'' McCabe said. “Everyone played really well in the second half.''

Chris Karpuk added 13 points and nine rebounds for Heelan. The Crusaders trailed 20-13 at the half after shooting 5 for 17 (29.4 percent).

The Crusaders also overcame two technical fouls — one on their bench and one after Alex Malloy missed a dunk and hung on the rim. Malloy also botched an alley-oop attempt with a teammate in the second half.

Despite all of that, and despite losing several key players from last year's title team, Heelan is back in the finals.

“It's a tribute to our kids,'' Betz said. “It's a tribute to the leadership of our captains: Alex and Zach and Chris Karpuk, who have just kind of thrown the guys on their backs in the second half of the season.''

Dav. Assumption (22-4).......................12 8 11 14—45

SC Heelan (21-4).........................9 4 16 17—46

DA: Sean Finn 5-11 2-7 12, Blake Schneden 2-3 7-9 11, J.T. Vonderhaar 3-12 2-4 10, Zach Coiner 1-3 0-0 2, Joe Daniel 3-7 1-2 7, Tommy Carroll 0-1 0-0 0, Sam Baldwin 0-1 0-0 0, Trevor Fennelly 1-3 0-2 3, Adam Bengfort 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 15-41 12-24 45.

SCH: David Kerian 1-3 0-0 2, Alex Malloy 2-10 1-4 5, Chris Karpuk 6-11 1-1 13, Michael Malloy 1-2 1-3 3, Zach McCabe 5-12 8-10 19, Shane Graves 2-4 0-0 4, Reed Buckstead 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Berger 0-0 0-0 0, Joe Rossiter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-42 11-18 46.

3-point goals: DA 3-11 (Vonderhaar 2-5, Fennelly 1-2, Schneden 0-1, Coiner 0-1, Finn 0-2), SCH 1-2 (McCabe 1-2). Total fouls: DA 19, SCH 17. Fouled out: Karpuk, A. Malloy. Technical fouls: Heelan bench, A. Malloy. Rebounds: DA 29 (Schneden 10), SCH 32 (A. Malloy 10). Assists: DA 6 (Vonderhaar 2), SCH 6 (McCabe 3). Steals: DA 10 (Schneden 4), SCH 7 (McCabe 3). Turnovers: DA 13, SCH 14.

Contact the writer:

444-1055, kevin.white@owh.com

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