Coming off their closest contest of the season with an overtime semifinal win against Hiawatha the night before, MH-MA had a long couple bus trips and short turnaround with the Sub-State finals moved up to start at 3:30 on Saturday.  However, the veteran team took a 16-13 halftime lead after a back and forth first 10 minutes and never trailed in the second half while hitting 13 of 18 free throws in the fourth period to beat Nemaha Central 44-28.  The Ravens improved to 22-0 with only three wins closer than 11 points this season and will return to the 3A State Tournament in Hutchinson with unfinished business after placing fourth a year ago.  

Jack Caudle was terrific going 8 of 10 from the field to score his 16 points while Zach Schwinn hit a pair of huge three's in the second quarter to give the Ravens the lead for good and helped put away the victory by making 8 of 10 free throws in the last quarter to finish with 14 points.  MH-MA was 15 of 20 from the foul line on the night, but took care of the ball and forced 13 Nemaha turnovers.  

The Thunder end their season at 16-7 with Cole Kramer getting 11 points but NC struggling by hitting just 2 of 18 three-pointers against the Ravens 2-3 zone.  Dalton Schmelzle had a steal and a slam dunk to pull the Thunder within 25-22 at the end of the third stanza, but they never got closer in the last eight minutes before losing to MH-MA in the Sub-State finals for the second straight year.  

MH-MA is the top seed at 3A State in Hutchinson this year and will open play against Hays TMP (13-11) at 6:30 on Thursday night with live coverage on KNZA 103.9 FM since the Benedictine men will be playing at the same time in the HAAC Tournament on KAIR 93.7 FM.