• Photo Showcase: State tournament: Thursday

• Video: Highlights from the South Sioux City-Sidney game:



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LINCOLN — Top-ranked South Sioux City survived a first-round scare at the boys state basketball tournament Thursday before pulling away late to defeat unranked Sidney.

The Cardinals, who led by one point after three quarters, outscored the Red Raiders 18-7 in the fourth quarter to post a 67-55 victory at the Devaney Center. South Sioux (17-5) advances to play in a Class B semifinal Friday at 2 p.m. while Sidney finishes the season 15-7.

The Red Raiders, seeded seventh in the eight-team tourney, hung tough for three quarters and trailed just 49-48. But the Cardinals outscored Sidney 11-3 over the first half of the fourth quarter to take command.

“It got a little easier for us when we started hitting more of our shots,'' South Sioux coach Terry Comstock said. “That opened things up inside, because they had clogged that up pretty well throughout the game.''

That dry spell hurt the Red Raiders, who didn't score their first basket of the final period until senior center Matt Rosenbaum hit a putback with 1:16 left. Sidney had been held to just five free throws before that, and it didn't score again after Rosenbaum's basket.

“I thought overall we played a pretty solid game,'' Red Raiders coach Jay Ehler said. “We had those three or four minutes in the fourth quarter that really hurt us.''

The teams battled through a see-saw first half as Sidney led by five points before the Cardinals rallied to take a five-point lead.

South Sioux held a 15-14 lead after the first quarter and led 31-26 late in the second quarter before the Red Raiders scored the final six points of the first half to take a 32-31 halftime edge.

Sophomore guard Austin Groth scored a game-high 25 points to pace the Cardinals. Sophomore guard Mike Gesell chipped in 16 and junior forward Trey Closter had 12.

Sidney had four players finish in double figures, led by senior guard Bret Bayne with 16. Rosenbaum added 14 points and 11 rebounds while Collin Harvey added 12 points and Jeremy Tucker 11.

“We knew we had a big challenge ahead of us today,'' Ehler said. “Despite the loss, I feel good about our season.''

Sidney (15-7).................14 18 16 7—55

South Sioux City (17-5)..................15 16 18 18—67

SI: Bret Bayne 16, Jeremy Tucker 11, Collin Harvey 12, Matt Rosenbaum 14, Lance Christian 2.

SSC: Trey Closter 12, Mike Gesell 16, Alex Groth 6, Austin Groth 25, Kaden Moore 2, Jose Bonilla 6.

Contact the writer:

444-1350, mike.patterson@owh.com

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