RAPID CITY – The Harrisburg Tigers were feeling comfortable with a 15-point lead over Sioux Falls O’Gorman with five and a half minutes to play in the Class AA boys state quarterfinals Thursday night at The Summit.

Maybe they were feeling a little too comfortable.

O’Gorman, which was barely shooting 20 percent from the field up until the final minutes, came roaring back and made up 14 of those 15 points. But Harrisburg held on in the final seconds for the 48-45 win and will face rival Brandon Valley Friday night in the final semifinal game at 7:45 p.m.

The Tigers had everything going for them for much of the game – shooting over 50 percent from the field and holding O’Gorman to a low percentage. A 15-1 run put them up 44-29 after a pair of Stellen Larson baskets with 5:29 to play.

They didn’t score again until Nolan Krull hit a short jumper with one minute left to put them up 46-42. Jaxson Weeldreyer, however, hit a 3-pointer with 51 seconds remaining to make it a one-point game, followed by one free throw from Larson.

Myles Nour, previously scoreless, hit one free throw for a 3-point lead and Austin Terveen missed a 3-point field goal, with the Tigers grabbing the rebound and clinching the win.

Harrisburg head coach Scott Langerock said that every team goes through a learning growth and his team has done that all year long.                                                                                                        

“We were just trying to hang on to that 15-point or 13-point, lead, instead of having the mindset of ‘we’re going to win this possession,’” he said. “We talk about winning this possession and then play the next possession, and we just kept losing possession after possession and not scoring, and then they got confidence.

 “So we just talked through all those things really quickly and said, ‘hey, you got to play with confidence. Guys, you've done it all year long and somebody's got to make a game-winning play if that's getting on the floor for a 50-50 ball, or if that's contesting a drive or getting a backside rebound or finishing at the rim.’”

Larson said they just got a little nervous as O’Gorman was pressuring them, so they had to take a couple timeouts to cool down and settle back to their game. They returned to their defense in the final seconds.                                                                                                      

“We rep defense, their defense out for a whole week, so when our offense isn't going good, we can depend on the defense to really step up and get stops,” said Larson. “And then we got free throws. We've been really making them. We just kept getting stops.”

The Knights led for most of the first quarter, jumping out to an 8-4 advantage on two baskets by Jackson Bjorkman. The Tigers responded with five straight for its first lead of the game on a jumper by Crayton Jibben.

After David Doe hit a 3-pointer to put the Tigers back in front, Weeldreyer hit a short jumper as the clock expired to tie the game at 12-12 after one quarter of play. Leading 16-15, the Tigers ran off a 13-1 run, opening things up on five points from Nolan Krull for a 29-16 lead with 3:31 until halftime.

Terveen ended a 9-0 Harrisburg run with a pair of free throws at the two-minute mark and the Knights closed on a  7-0 run, capped by a Weeldreyer 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the halftime lead at 31-23.

Harrisburg shot 54 percent from the field in the first half (13-of-24), to just 29 percent by the Knights (8-of-28).

Kaden Anderson scored six of the team’s eight points in a low-scoring third as the Tigers took a 39-28 lead into the fourth quarter. The offensive struggles continued for both teams for the first two minutes of the quarter before Larson scored five straight, including a 3-pointer, to put the Tigers up by 15.

Larson and Aiden Costain led the way for the Tigers with 10 points each, followed by nine points from Krull and eight from Anderson. Harrisburg shot 48 percent from the field (20-of-42) and hit just 5-of-11 free throws. Costain had a double-double with 11 rebounds.

Austin Terveen led all scorers with 15 points as he hit 9-of-10 free throws. Weeldreyer added 11 points as O’Gorman, 13-9,+ finished the night shooting 26 percent from the field (14-of-54), but hit 15-of-20 free throws. The Knights grabbed 34 rebounds.

Even with losing the big lead, Langerock said they are going to celebrate the win and get back at it Friday to face Brandon Valley.

 “Anytime you can play in a semifinal, you’re going to be super excited about it,” he said. “I just told them, I said, ‘you guys actually should gain confidence because you don't have to play perfect. Just understand the game of basketball is not meant to be played perfect. It's how you respond to your mistakes and keep your head up and you’ll find a way to win.’ And this team has done that all year long.”

The Tigers, 19-3, will face a familiar foe in Brandon Valley. Harrisburg won the regular-season meeting 52-39.

“They are obviously a good team, but I think we got a pretty good matchup against them and I think we just have to go take it right away from the start,” said Larson.

Langerock said it is going to be a backyard brawl.

“That's just how it is. It's a fun rivalry,” he said. “We respect the heck out of their program and their coaching staff's great. We have become good friends with all those people and but when we straps up and the ball goes in the arena, both teams want to win, so it’s been a good rivalry.”