DES MOINES -- Maybe it was the heart-pounding semifinal a year ago that made this Bishop Heelan basketball team feel compelled to produce a little more drama.
Or, maybe it was just that it took everything the Crusaders had to subdue Mount Pleasant in a 64-63 overtime semifinal Thursday night at the Class 3A Boys State Basketball Tournament.
Senior forward Alex Malloy, following up a game-tying shot in the final second of regulation, took a nifty feed from David Kerian to score the game winner on a lay-in that appeared to use up the last ticks of a four-minute overtime.
Not until 1.4 seconds were restored to the clock and three consecutive time-outs were burned up did a three-quarter court pass by Mount Pleasant wind up in the hands of Heelan's Wesley Staten and finish it up.
And, who better to secure the win than the 6-1 junior guard who tallied a game-high 24 points, hitting 11 of 19 shots, mostly from medium range?
Sophomore point guard Shane Graves, whose runner from the left wing as time expired gave Heelan a 46-45 semifinal escape from Davenport Assumption last year, finished with 13 points and three assists as the No. 2-ranked Crusaders prevailed over a team rated No. 3 in the final 3A poll by Associated Press.
The win sends Heelan into Saturday night's 6:05 p.m. title game against top-ranked Waverly-Shell Rock, which also needed overtime to win the first of Thursday night's semifinals over unranked Norwalk.
"That game was just fun to be a part of,'' said Staten. "There were no doubts, no doubts at all. I just kept the faith. I guess to sum it up it was just amazing.''
Malloy, a 6-4 senior playing in his fourth state tournament in a row, struggled through one of his poorest shooting nights ever, going 3-for-15 from the field and 6-for-13 from the free throw line. However, his 12 points certainly included the two biggest buckets.
First, he drove the lane to score on a spin move after Mount Pleasant's Henry Krieger-Coble made one of two free throws with 9.5 seconds left, giving the Panthers a 55-53 lead.
"If I have a move, a spin dribble is my bread and butter,'' said Malloy. "I just threw it up and it went in. It was luck.''
The game-winner was a little more fundamental as Heelan managed to counter a clutch three-pointer by Mount Pleasant star Scott Hahn, giving his team a 63-62 lead with 17 seconds left in the extra session.
Staten had the ball near the top of the circle, dribbled to the left wing, dished to Graves in the corner and the sophomore moved toward the hoop, dishing off to Kerian.
"I was going to put it up, but I saw Alex across the lane and passed it,'' said Kerian, whose unselfish dish made the winning points an easy bunny.
"I'm just happy for Alex, being a senior, to see him make those shots, it feels great,'' said Graves.
"As much as (Malloy) struggled, I didn't want a guy who's done so much for us to walk out of Wells Fargo on that note,'' said Heelan Coach Tom Betz. "He needed a chance to redeem himself Saturday night.''
Zach Maxey, a 6-5 senior who broke NFL star Nate Kaeding's Iowa high school kick scoring record last fall, finishing with 217 career points, had just his second double-digit scoring night of the season, coming off the bench to tally 10 points.
Meanwhile, Malloy compensated for his shooting struggles with 13 rebounds as Heelan won the board battle 33-26, grabbing a whopping 17 offensive rebounds.
Krieger-Coble, a 6-4 senior, had 18 points to lead a Mount Pleasant team that came into last year's tournament ranked No. 1 with five junior starters. However, the Panthers' post man, just a 47 percent free throw shooter, left the door open by sinking only one of five gifters in the overtime.
Staten had all seven of Heelan's overtime points before Malloy's game-winner.
"We knew we had to play a heckuva game to win,'' said Mount Pleasant's Hahn, who is headed for NCAA Division II Quincy University in Illinois. "I thought we did, but Henry and I were in foul trouble. I'm so proud of how our guys responded to that.''
"We wanted to earn a little respect tonight and I think we did that,'' said Mount Pleasant Coach Paul Rundquist.
Mount Pleasant claimed early leads of 9-3 and 12-5, but Heelan responded with a stretch spanning more than six minutes, outpointing the Panthers 19-3 with 10 of Staten's 14 first-half points to gain a 24-15 advantage with 5:48 left in the second quarter.
Even though three fouls each were whistled on Hahn and Krieger-Coble, the Panthers mounted a comeback.
Getting a big lift from Jordan Ashton, one of three juniors who provide strong support of an all-senior starting five, last year's fourth-place finishers put together a 10-1 surge that tied it up at 25.
Ashton, who tallied 10 on the night, contributed eight first-half points with a pair of three-pointers and 6-5 senior Austin Marshall, just 11 of 40 from the arc on the season, also hit twice from the perimeter.
Heelan led 30-27 at the recess and the second half was a battle all the way, knotted at 41 after three periods and a nailbiter all the way after that.
Heelan's fifth consecutive state tournament team is its seventh in 11 seasons as a Class 3A basketball school. The Crusaders improved to 6-1 in first-round 3A assignments with their 63-59 win Tuesday over Dubuque Wahlert and this one made them a perfect 6-0 in semifinals.
Waverly-Shell Rock's 21st state tournament team is its first since the Go-Hawks throttled Heelan 74-51 in the 2007 championship game, featuring 6-9 Mr. Basketball award winner Clayton Vette, now a sophomore eligibility-wise at Winona State in his fourth year out of high school.
The Go-Hawks reached the finals in a heartstopping 50-49 overtime thriller over Norwalk, winning on 6-5 sophomore Klinton Carlson's alley-oop dunk with four seconds to play.
Halftime score -- Heelan 30, Mount Pleasant 27. End of regulation -- tied at 55-55. Three-point shots -- Mount Pleasant 5-15 (Hahn 1-3, Marshall 2-4, Cotton 0-3, Ashton 2-5), Heelan 3-7 (Graves 1-1, Kerian 0-1, M. Malloy 1-3, Staten 1-2). Fouled out -- Maxey. Rebounds -- Mount Pleasant 26 (Vandenberg 7) , Heelan 33 (A.Malloy 13 ) . Assists -- Mount Pleasant 9 (Hahn 2, Marshall 2 ) , Heelan 9 (Graves 3 ). Turnovers -- Mount Pleasant 18, Heelan 15 . Total fouls -- Mount Pleasant 21, Heelan 19. Officials -- Bill Prange , Jeff Frese, Mark Guenther.
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