Hayes Center settles for third place again at state

LINCOLN -- Hayes Center High School head boys basketball coach Louis Cuellar and his team would probably be in favor of abolishing the semifinal round of the state basketball tournament.

The Cardinals claimed their third consecutive third-place finish at the state tournament last weekend in Lincoln, after a third straight loss in the Friday, March 12 semifinal round. Hayes Center dropped a 74-66 decision to Hampton in Friday's Class D-2 semifinals at the Pershing Center. In the Saturday, March 13 consolation final, the Cards held off a late Hay Springs rally for a 71-66 win at the Lincoln Southwest High School gym.

Hayes Center also placed third in the D-2 state meet last year, and third in the D-1 state meet in 2008.

Coach Cuellar said Saturday's third-place win was a testament to the character of his team, and a fitting way to end the basketball careers of four standout seniors -- Keifer Messersmith, Tyler Clifford, Brady Rosno and Alex Wach.

"Every year that we've played in this thing it gets harder and harder to come back and play that third-place game," Cuellar said. "But it gives us an opportunity, and the way we go about it is, we want to make sure that we send our seniors out with a win. The last couple years we've been able to do that, and that's the most special thing in the world, because we know that it's the last game of the year, we know that these kids mean a lot to us and we needed to send them out with a win.

"The last couple years I think we've started kind of sluggish (in the third-place final) in the first half. I really don't do anything to prepare for it. We just go out there, we want to have fun and play the game. The last couple years we've went out kind of sluggish in the first half, and then the second half is when these kids' character really shows up, that they really want to win this thing, and they want to go out on top."

This year's consolation final was different for the Cardinals. Coach Cuellar said his team "came out just on fire" in the first quarter Saturday, building a 19-12 lead. Hay Springs rallied to tie the score at 30-30 at intermission as the Hawks hit a half-court shot at the buzzer.

Deja vu all over again

Hayes Center outscored the Hawks 16-6 in the third quarter to take a 46-36 lead, but Hay Springs rallied in the final eight minutes.

"We got up 10 going into fourth quarter again, and it was deja vu all over," Cuellar said, referring to Friday night's semifinals when Hampton rallied from a 10-point third-quarter deficit against the Cardinals.

"I'm sitting there going 'Holy cow'" Cuellar said. "Friday, Keifer (Messersmith) had a layup (late in the game) and he just dribbled it off his foot. Well, the same thing happened when (Hay Springs) closed it to four points. It was just so weird because we were sitting right in the same situation after playing a heck of a first three quarters. These kids said they would not let that happen again, and they made plays down the stretch and that's how we won it.

"This group of seniors was a very determined group and they showed it the whole time. The way they competed in that third-place game just shows the character that they have. That will carry over with them for the rest of their lives, because they are true competitors and they are never going to fail in anything they do."

Messersmith had a game-high 29 points Saturday. Alex Wach and Adam Lawson added 11 points each. Hay Springs, 24-2, was led by Lars Backward with 22 points.

CLASS D-2 THIRD PLACE FINALS

Saturday, March13 at Lincoln Southwest High School

HAYES CENTER - Keifer Messersmith 29, Adam Lawson 11, Alex Wach 11, Tyler Clifford 9, Tyler Rehbein 8, Brady Rosno 3.

HAY SPRINGS - Lars Backward 22, Travis Kuhn 18, Chris Cover 13, Heath Lee 6, Wacey Schmid 4, Tanner Letcher 3.

Bad 4th quarter Friday

Hayes Center was in control early in the Friday, March 12 semifinals against Hampton. The Cards built a 50-40 lead after three quarters.

Coach Cuellar said the Hawks slowly chipped away at Hayes Center's lead in the final quarter while employing a patient, half-court offense. Hampton actually took a three-point lead late in the fourth period.

"Our fourth quarter was not a very good quarter," Cuellar said. "Part of that is, I should have been able to found a way to change things up, but I just really had no answers to what they were doing.

"They were shooting bonus free throws early in third quarter. I think they attempted 24 of their 26 free throws in second half, and that didn't help out very much either."

Tyler Clifford connected on a 3-point shot for the Cardinals in the closing seconds to tie the score at 61-61, sending the contest into overtime.

"We had the lead, we had the momentum going into the fourth quarter," Cuellar said. "(Hampton) chipped away at it, and they took the lead and we had to fight our tails off to get back into it. We hit a couple shots, and then Tyler hit a 'three' toward the end that got us into overtime.

"In the overtime, they came out and scored the first four points, and we couldn't match anything. We had to try and foul. We never got in the (free throw) bonus the whole game. They did and we didn't, and they made their free throws and they made the plays at the end to win it."

Hampton was whistled for just 10 personal fouls, compared to 23 for Hayes Center. The winners made 18 of 26 free throws, while the Cards were 12 of 17 at the line.

Messersmith had 19 points to pace Hayes Center Friday.Tyler Rehbein had 12 points and Adam Lawson added 11. DJ Bamesberger led Hampton with 24 points.

Hayes Center advanced to the semifinals with Thursday's 53-48 win over Sterling, the defending D-2 state champs.

CLASS D-2 STATE SEMIFINALS

Friday at Pershing Center

HAYES CENTER - Keifer Messersmith 19, Tyler Rehbein 12, Adam Lawson 11, Brady Rosno 8, Alex Wach 8, Tyler Clifford 6, Michael Bishop 2.

HAMPTON - DJ Bamesberger 24, Carson Klute 13, Nathan Mason 13, Marcus Garrison 12, Alex Dose 9, Levi Bamesberger 3.

State tourney history

The Cardinals own a bit of state tournament history. Hayes Center is the only team to have finished third three consecutive years -- never mind that the Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) began playing the consolation final three years ago.

"We were 0-5 in the history of our school at the state tournament," Coach Cuellar said. "We had been there five times, we had never won a game. These last three years we've went 6-3 down there and won three third-place games. That's something that these kids have to take great pride in because they were able to get down there and do that."

"We've been there all three years and we've put ourselves in that situation and we've able to capitalize. That's three trophies that these kids in 20 years can come back and show their kids that this is what they did. It is special.

"A state title would have been better, but on the other hand, there's a lot of teams that would take what we've done in a heartbeat. It's something that these kids can't take for granted, because they've earned it and they've worked their tails off to win those three (trophies), and it's a very special thing."

The Hayes Center coach was sentimental when speaking of his outstanding senior quartet.

Super seniors

"They are unbelievable. They are truly a class act and I'm going to miss them. I'm going to miss those kids so much," Cuellar said. "These last couple days have just been so much fun to spend with them, just hanging out with them. It's different now.

"They'll always be a part of my life, but we're going to go in different directions now. I wish them all the best of luck in the future. They are a great group of kids."

The Cardinals head man said the senior group of Messersmith, Clifford, Rosno and Wach have helped earn the three third-place state finishes and have been part of Hayes Center teams that have won 83 games with just 15 losses at the varsity level in their four years of high school. The Cardinals were 14-7 three years ago, followed by a 24-2 finish in 2008, 22-3 last year and 23-3 this season.

Cuellar said he has a strong nucleus of returning players for next season, including Adam Lawson, Michael Bishop and Tyler Rehbein, a trio of sophomores who all saw extensive varsity playing time this year. Tanner Dow is a junior who led the Cardinals JV squad this season, and Cuellar hopes he will jump into a leading role on the varsity next season.

"Our sophomore class is big, and we've going to need some of them to step up this summer and really take the role of who wants to be that fifth, sixth, seventh guy," Cuellar said. "With those four key guys coming back, especially those three sophomores that have huge experience, we're going to look at them hard to really step up, improve their games and get better.

"We might have a little different look, because these kids do have experience, but they don't have as much experience as what these seniors had. But they are going to be looked upon to step up and make plays. I've got all the faith in the world they will do it because they've tasted it and they want to get right back to that state tournament and continue that tradition that we've started."