ST. JOHN 61, PRETTY PRAIRIE 58, OT

NORWICH  — St. John's Hunter Smith rescued the Tigers in overtime with six free throws to spark a 61-58 victory over Pretty Prairie in Friday's 1A substate basketball semifinal. Edwin Fernandez converted a 3-pointer in the extra period. The Tigers played overtime without 6-foot-6 Elijah Delp, who fouled out after blocking a game-tying attempt.

Pretty Prairie's Bryan Steadman converted two free throws to send the game to overtime at 52-52. Delp scored back-to-back baskets for a 52-48 lead, but the Tigers missed two free throws and committed a turnover. Bulldog Dustin Saft scored before Steadman's tying free throws.

Smith scored a career high 23 points and converted four 3-pointers. Delp scored 10 points. Edwin Fernandez scored nine points and Uriel Calleros and Preston Dunn added eight apiece. The Tigers converted 10 of 30 3-pointers.

Lucas Detter scored 21 points, but missed seven of his final eight shots. Dustin Saft scored 15 points. The Bulldogs converted 6 of 15 3-pointers.

The No. 7 seeded Tigers (8-13) has upset No. 2 seeded Macksville and No. 3 seeded Pretty Prairie to reach the finals..

The Tigers sprinted to a 17-10 first-quarter lead fueled by a pair of 3-pointers by Hunter Smith. The Bulldogs spun the momentum with a 12-0 scoring run keyed by a trio of 3-pointers by Blake Stucky.

St. John 17 12 11 12 9 — 61

Pretty Prairie 10 20 12 10 6 — 58

ST. JOHN (9-13)—Smith 6-13 7-10 23, Delp 5-8 0-1 10, Fernandez 3-9 0-0 9, Dunn 4-8 0-2 8, Calleros 3-11 0-3 8, Adame 1-2 0-0 2, Woolf 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 22-52 7-16 61

PRETTY PRAIRIE (13-7)—Detter 7-17 4-6 21, Saft 7-12 1-4 15, Bryan Steadman 4-15 3-4 11, Stucky 3-7 0-0 9, Totals 22-53 8-15 58

3-pointers—SJ 10-30 (Smith 4-8, Fernandez 3-8, Calleros 2-9, Adame 1-1, Delp 0-1, Woolf 0-1, Dunn 0-2), PP 6-15 (Detter 3-5, Stucky 3-6, Saft 0-1, Steadman 0-3)