RAPID CITY — The Braves, fueled by redemption, are on to the consolation championship.

No. 7 Cheyenne-Eagle Butte clipped No. 6 Stanley County, 58-57, advancing to the Class A state consolation championship. The Braves will play No. 8 St. Thomas More at 12:45 p.m., MT, on Saturday inside the Summit Arena at The Monument.

“It was a big win for us, we lost to them earlier,” said senior guard Damien Clown. “We always wanted a chance to beat them again and we got to do it on the biggest stage so it felt good.”

CEB lost to the Region 6A foes back on Jan. 24 in a 67-52 decision at Fort Pierre. Nearly two months later, the Braves would walk away victorious over the Big Dakota Conference rivals.

“Redemption,” said assistant coach Beau Kingfisher of the win. “We got our game back from them, they beat us early in the season in a game at Stanley County it feels good to beat the team that got us back.”

The rematch featured nearly a full game of seesaw basketball with 20 lead changes and eight ties. In fact, neither team led by more than four points a single time in the final three quarters of play.

“We’ve played against those guys for four years now so we know each other very well,” Clown said of SC. “It was just who wanted it more and we wanted it more.”

“We’re evenly matched, we play each other once or twice a year, been playing each other for four years, we watched each other grow up, so it’s good to see us here at the same time,” Kingfisher added. “It was a hard fought game and I’m glad we came out on top.”

Cheyenne-Eagle Butte celebrates their 58-57 win over Stanley County in the consolation semifinals of the Class A boys state tournament on Friday at Summit Arena at The Monument in Rapid City. (Matt Gade / 605 Sports)

CEB gained a 55-52 advantage midway through the final quarter before a Paxton Deal bucket and Brendon Bothwell 3-pointer swayed the lead in favor of the Buffaloes.

Nehemiah Veaux responded for the Braves with a game-tying basket with 2:15 to play. On the final possession of the game for CEB, Clown got his own rebound on a missed shot, drawing a foul on the putback attempt with just 33 ticks to go.

Clown sank the first from the charity stripe to give the Braves a one-point lead.

“Just don’t miss these,” Clown said of the final free throws. “I missed one, I’ll probably hear about it from my teammates but it’s alright.”

Clown finished with a game-high 23 points with three rebounds, three assists and four steals. He suffered an injury midway through the game, but stuck it out and came up big in the closing moments.

“He took a hit early in the game and he didn’t say anything,” Kingfisher said of Clown. “He played through the pain and he always wants the big time free throws when we practice. He’ll run all of the sprints and want to shoot last so he’s dog-tired. Him splitting them like that is Damien in a nutshell. He wants the moment and I’m glad he got one to go.”

The Braves forced a turnover on SC’s Deal on the final possession to seal its first state tourney win since 2014.

“It feels good getting put back on the map a little bit,” Clown said of the win. “It feels good, still got one more to go so hopefully we’ll come out and win that one tomorrow too.”

Kingfisher says the biggest factor in the win today was “getting stops and taking care of the ball’, something the Braves struggled with in Thursday’s first round loss to West Central.

“That’s what we didn’t do yesterday,” Kingfisher said. “The game happened so fast yesterday and we knew we needed to slow down and play our game today.”

Levi Elk Nation added 16 points and four rebounds for the Braves, Veaux collected six points, five boards and two steals while Kobe White netted six points in the win.

SC’s Deal finished with 18 points and three assists, Eddie Duffy added 15 points, seven assists and three boards, Teegyn Breitag had 10 points, 14 rebounds and two assists, Trevor Caldwell had seven points and nine boards while Bothwell poured in six points and three assists in the loss.

Cheyenne-Eagle Butte will play at 12:45 p.m., MT, in the consolation championship against No. 8 St. Thomas More, who defeated No. 5 Groton Area, 94-92, in double overtime earlier today.

“Yesterday we came with goals to win that game. We didn’t, so our next goal was to go to the consolation and that was the first part of the goal,” Kingfisher said. “It sucks that it had to be against a region foe, but they’re tough as nails and we give them all the respect in the world. That game could’ve went either way.”