Postseason play rolled along Thursday night for area high school basketball teams in Class 1A at the Valley Falls Regional and after two thrilling games it will be Centralia and Valley Falls moving on to the championship Saturday and sub-state next week.

Semifinal #1: Centralia 60, Burlingame 52

The opening game of the night was the most thrilling featuring runs, big shots and clutch plays down the stretch by Centralia as the Panthers pulled away for a 60-52 win.

Things didn’t start great for the Panthers who got down by as many as 10 points in the first quarter before a big 3-pointer from junior Ian Haverkamp at the buzzer to pull within 15-8 after one.

Haverkamp hit another big triple to start the second quarter, but the Bearcats continued to feed their big sophomore post Trevor Quaney who scored 12 points in the first half giving Burlingame a lead by as many as 14 points in the second.

Centralia responded with another big run to end the half as senior Cooper Deters along with fellow senior Colby Arnold each hit a pair of triples to pull the Panthers back within 31-26 at the half.

The Panthers pulled even closer in the third quarter and pulled within 44-41 going into the fourth outscoring Burlingame 15-13 in the third.

In the fourth it was time for Centralia senior Colby Arnold to take over as he scored a quick 10 points in the quarter giving the Panthers the lead before Kamble Haverkamp sealed the win with a 4-of-5 shooting effort from the free throw line in the fourth.

The Panthers forced 22 turnovers in the win and knocked down nine 3-pointers as Cooper Deters and Ian Haverkamp each hit three.

Centralia (13-9) was led in scoring by Arnold who finished with 18 points while Haverkamp added 13.

Centralia: Colby Arnold – 18, Kamble Haverkamp – 13, Cooper Deters – 9, Ian Haverkamp – 9, Presley Bowers – 3, Corbin Becker – 2, Noah Quigley – 2.

Burlingame: Trevor Quaney – 16, Kade Kline – 15, Lance Noonan – 13, Austin Tyson – 3, Evan Young – 3, Garrett Robinson – 2.

Semifinal #2: Valley Falls 56, Troy 51

Just like the first game of the night the second was back-and-forth with both teams going on runs throughout before Valley Falls finished with a big fourth quarter to win 56-51.

Troy started quick jumping out to an 18-9 lead after one behind eight points from sophomore Camden Anderson on a pair of 3-pointers while forcing the Dragons into four first quarter turnovers.

Valley Falls responded in a big way in the second quarter outscoring the Trojans 19-8 in the second quarter behind nine points from junior Nathan Hawk to take a 28-26 lead at the break.

The third quarter continued to go back-and-forth with the Trojans getting seven points from freshman seven points to take a 41-40 lead going into the fourth.

In the fourth it was Hawk who once again took over as the junior notched nine points in the fourth including a 5-of-6 effort from the charity stripe down the stretch.

The Dragons knocked down five 3-pointers in the win with four coming from sophomore Avery Gatzemeyer who finished with 14 points while Hawk led the way with 24 on an 8-of-10 effort from the line.

Valley Falls advances to the regional championship game on Saturday where they will take on Centralia at 7:30 p.m. with live coverage on 103.9 KNZA and 92.1 KMZA.

Valley Falls: Nathan Hawk – 24, Avery Gatzemeyer – 14, Tyler Lockhart – 7, Trenton Kraxner – 4, Drew Pickerell – 3, Diego Cervantez – 2, Gage Burdiek – 2.

Troy: Jerrit Norris – 15, Griffin Weber – 10, Tate Smith – 10, Camden Anderson – 8, Reagan Hartman – 4, Keaton Neumann – 4.