Crestwood and Nodaway Valley advance

The class 3A semifinals closed out Thursday’s action at the boys’ state tournament. Top-ranked Crestwood pulled away from a four-point lead at the half to down Ballard of Huxley 59-44. Crestwood was the runnerup last year and now gets another shot at their first championship.Crestwood coach Lynn McCormick says their second half rebounding advantage of 24-12 was a big factor. He says he told them at halftime that was the only thing he was disappointed in, their lack of rebounding. Ballard coach Chris Deason says he was happy with the effort. He says you never have to worry about this group of players giving up and they did it again in this game.Kam Klaver led Ballard with 14-points. In class 2A Nodaway Valley put together another fourth quarter rally. The Wolverines erased an eight point deficit midway through the fourth quarter to edge AGWSR 50-47. Mark Holan’s jumper in the lane with 47-seconds remaining proved to be the game winner. He says he was fading away and just threw it up and got the roll. Holan says despite falling behind in the fourth quarter they never lost confidence. He says they always feel they can come back if they work hard. Nodaway Valley is 27-0.