VELMA VELMA Six Stephens County schools, Comanche, Bray-Doyle, Velma-Alma, Central, Marlow and Comanche, had teams in the semifinals on Thursday at Velma.

In the most pressure-packed game of the night, No. 2 Velma-Alma pulled off a heart-stopping 61-60 victory against No. 3 Central High. It gave the Comets their 10th straight victory with them rallying from behind yet again.

With starting point guard sophomore Ian Hickman and senior Kevin Harris sitting down for an extended time with four fouls each, it seemed impossible the Bronchos led the Comets 31-28 at halftime.

Then again, it also seemed impossible senior John Repp would hit a buzzer-beating half-court heave before the break, but he did. It capped off his 17-point half, and Velma-Alma assistant coach Bobby Moore was disappointed the Comets didnt take better advantage of their chances.

With their two stars on the bench, we should have been taking off a lot more, Moore said. Their reserves and whole team effort did a really good job of keeping them in the game.

In the last matchup of the two teams, a 55-50 Comet victory in the Black Diamond Final, everything went right for the Bronchos in the first half. This time almost everything went wrong, but the three-point shooting bailed Central High out. The visitors made 11 long bombs with the last one coming as time expired.

Thats remarkable, pretty crazy right there, Moore said. Youve just got to take your hat off to them. If they are going to shoot that well, theyre going to be hard to beat.

The Comets grabbed the lead at 41-39 with 2:12 left in the third quarter and fought to keep it for most of the remaining time. The crucial point came when senior Jaz Gayanich, who had 15 points missed a free-throw to put his Comets up by four with 18 seconds left. It could have been a dire situation with the Bronchos on fire from behind the arc all night, but sophomore Jake McGuire muscled out the rebound.

After a timeout, the Bronchos fouled senior Connor Sullivan, who nailed the front end of the one and one to put the game away. Though he made the critical free-throw, Sullivan credited the win to McGuires rebound.

Jakes such a big guy, when he gets a chance at a rebound, hes most likely going to get the ball, Sullivan said.

Excerpt from:

Comets, Indians move to Stephens County finals