To a man, this year's All-Nebraska boys basketball team saved its best for the season's final weeks.

None more than Deverell Biggs of Omaha Central, the All-Nebraska honorary captain.

In his coach's doghouse entering February, Biggs exited it with a turnaround that fueled 11 wins in the Eagles' final 12 games. The run led to a state title that was his third in four years in Central colors and the fourth in five years for the school.

Biggs embraced the freshman who should be the school's next standout, Akoy Agau. He didn't let bad games get to him. He raised his own play to new levels while maintaining team chemistry.

And his explosive first step, which some longtime hoops observers said is rare for a high schooler in this state, propelled a monster 35-point game in a one-point Class A semifinal win over Lincoln Southeast. His encore was 19 points, four assists and three steals in the 71-58 win over Norfolk for the state crown.

“He really had a great year from the start, but people started to take note later on. If you saw him in the (Metro) holiday tournament, he was good there,'' Central coach Eric Behrens said. “It was his leadership that grew as the season went along and he turned the corner with young guys, like Akoy.

“Deverell needed a confident Akoy. It was mutual. It wasn't like his teammates needed Deverell more. It was, ‘I need these guys to be really good,' and his leadership grew.''

What happened in the final weeks for the other All-Nebraska first-teamers?

Mike Gesell of South Sioux City, the highly touted sophomore, led the Cardinals to the school's first state title in boys basketball with team-high averages in scoring, rebounding and assists as a 6-foot-1 point guard.

Elliott Eliason of Chadron, the state's only senior bound for a Division I power conference school (Minnesota), returned the Cardinals to the Class C-1 state finals for the third time in four seasons.

Austin Kaczor of Ewing, an All-Nebraska athlete in two sports from the state's smallest class, grabbed the gold medals that eluded the Tigers at last year's state tournament by taking the school to its second Class D-2 title in five seasons.

Dwight Smith of Ralston, a Colorado State recruit, got the Rams a chance to defend their Class B title with 28 points in their district final win over Omaha Gross and had 20 points and 15 rebounds in a state semifinal loss to South Sioux City.

It's the second straight season, in the 96 years of All-Nebraska selections, that the first team has only one player from Class A. Eliason and Kaczor, who were the first players so honored from their schools last year, are repeat selections. Smith was on the 2009 second team.

Gesell is the first sophomore on the first team since Erick Strickland of Bellevue West in 1990.

This year's second team is an all-senior unit consisting of Brady Lollman of Class A runner-up Norfolk, Dalton Sealey of three-time Class C-1 champion Hastings St. Cecilia, Mike Dentlinger of Class A Millard North, Caleb Steffensmeier of Class A Omaha Creighton Prep and Zach Bargen of Chadron.

Third-team selections are seniors Kyle Schlake of Class D-1 state champion Freeman, Trevor Menke of Class B Beatrice, Justin Kosmicki of Class C-2 Johnson County and Tobin Reinwald of Class A Lincoln High and junior Derrius Vick of Class A Lincoln Southeast.

Nominations of coaches and observations of The World-Herald's sports staff determine the honor teams. All schools were e-mailed nomination forms.

Biggs, a 6-1 guard who averaged 21.1 points and led Central in assists, probably will go to a junior college next season to start the route toward fulfilling his skills on the Division I level.

“I've coached some D-I guards and I definitely think he's going to play Division I basketball,” Behrens said, adding that at least 10 to 12 college coaches have called since the state tournament about Biggs. “He's athletic and works really hard. Quite frankly, he wasn't a great shooter when he came here, but he's worked to gain an outside shot.''

Ralston's Smith, who averaged 14.8 points and 6.8 rebounds and led the Rams in field-goal shooting at 55 percent, will join older brother Greg at Colorado State.

“He'll be a great teammate,'' Ralston coach Bill Heard said. “He's never been a big stats guy. He's more concerned with his teammates and wins. They'll get a real versatile kid and a good kid with good attributes.

“He needs to improve his perimeter skills, but he'll have some time to do that. The biggest thing he brings is versatility on the defensive end, he's able to guard shooting guards, small forwards and in some cases, power forwards. The way he rebounds, it can get him on the court.''

Kaczor, whose 2,205 points are eighth on the state's career list, also was All-Nebraska in football as a 6-4 receiver who set several eight-man records. But he remains undecided about wanting to play either sport in college.

Ewing coach Greg Appleby said Kaczor intends to take recruiting visits to Wayne State and the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

“He hasn't said no,'' Appleby said. “They're both good places and he'll get there and get a feel for the coaches and the programs.''

Gesell, who had Doc Sadler of Nebraska and Dana Altman of Creighton watching his state tournament games, had offers from those two schools and three others before he ever put on a South Sioux uniform as a freshman. His scoring average improved in the postseason, a rarity, as he finished with team-leading averages of 19.9 points, 7.7 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 3.3 steals.

The 6-11 Eliason had 113 blocks this season and 418 over four years. He improved his scoring average from 14.5 as a junior to 17.7 as a senior, and his rebounding average of 10.2 was virtually unchanged.

“Consistency is the key word. Night in and night out, he was there with his scoring, defense, blocking shots, rebounding,'' Chadron coach Craig Nobiling said. “His defensive side just took off this year, and we'll miss that part greatly.''

Contact the writer:

444-1041, stu.pospisil@owh.com

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