GICC Overcomes Slow Start To Down Thayer Central

(Grand Island, NE) - A slow start in Thursday night's affair at Central Catholic had an emphatic stamp in the end for the Crusader boys basketball team en route to a 54-35 win over Thayer Central in the Class C2 Sub-District 7 championship game at Crusader Gym. 

GICC would trail 4-0 until the 2:55 mark of the first quarter as Thomas Birch would start his 23 point season high scoring night with two free throws to get the Crusaders on the board first. A Kyle Kelly three pointer late in the first quarter would give GICC a spark to trail 6-5. Then, Thomas Birch would knock down another three pointer to give the Crusaders an 8-6 lead with 20 seconds left in the quarter that would then give GICC the lead for good. 

The Crusaders would cling to a two point advantage at halftime, 20-18. In the third quarter, the Crusaders would explode for 15 points only allowing Thayer Central 3 for GICC to have a 35-21 lead going into the fourth quarter. GICC would have a 19-14 run in the fourth to close the game out. 

Thayer Central sees its season come to an end with a record of 16-9. GICC held the Titans leading scorer Sam Souerdyke to only 10 points as he came into the contest leading Thayer Central with 21 points per game. Souerdyke had 30 points vs Wood River in the sub-district semi-final game on Tuesday. 

GICC is now 21-4 on the season and is now one win away from the state tournament. The Crusaders will now host a C2 district final. The date, opponent, and tip-off time is to be determined. 

GICC                    9  11  15  19  - 54 

Thayer Central    6   12    3   14  - 34

Crusader Scoring: Wolfe 16 - Liban 9 - Kelly 3 - Birch 24 - Haney 2 

Titan Scoring: Degenhardt 6 - Dankenbring 6 - Hubl 4 - Souerdyke 10 - Hergott 7 - Johnson 2