As Hettinger coach Adam Hill walked past Beach coach Larry Helvik after the Black Devils' third-place game against South Heart, Hill felt compelled to apologize.
"I'm sorry we took so long," Hill said with a laugh as he slapped Helvik, who was walking to the bench to coach the District 13 championship game, on the back.
The Black Devils outlasted South Heart in a foul-filled second half and walked away with a 60-55 victory Tuesday night at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.
The two teams combined for 43 fouls, all but eight in the second half, which vastly slowed down the Hettinger-controlled game.
The Black Devils came out blazing in the first half, building a 31-16 halftime lead on the sharp-shooting of sophomore guard Jerad Jacobson.
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"The first half, I thought we just weren't attacking the basket," South Heart coach Curt Pierce said. "We didn't want to execute - like we had lead in our feet."
Every shot Jacobson threw at the basket in the first half seemed to find its way through the hoop.
The Hettinger sophomore rattled in 3-pointers and scoop-shot his way to a game-high 20 points, 14 of which came in the first half.
Jacobson had only six points, all on free throws, in the second half.
"It was hard to get going," Jacobson said. "You're always stopping and going again."
With the win, Hettinger clinched the district's third seed and will play District 14 runner-up Dickinson Trinity in the Region 7 quarterfinals next Monday at Knights of Columbus Activities Center.
"That's kind of who we wanted," Hill said. "It's kind of odd to want to play Trinity on their home floor in a regional."
Having never played Hazen and losing to Trinity by just five points in the regular season gives the Black Devils something to hope for going into the region tournament.
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"Obviously they've gotten better, but we feel like we have too," Hill said.
Jacobson ripped it up in the second half while the Eagles, who entered the tournament as the top seed but will take the district's fourth seed into the regional tournament, put an air-tight defense on Alex Willoughby and Drew Nash, Hettinger's leading scorers.
"When they took away Alex and Drew early, Jared carried the load," Hill said.
However, when the Eagles chased Jacobson in the second half and shut down his moves to the basket, Nash and Willoughby shouldered the offensive load.
Nash worked the post, scoring 18 points on 7 of 12 shooting. He also grabbed 10 rebounds and Willoughby scored 14 points, hitting 11 of his 12 free throws.
While Hettinger slowed down in the second half, the Eagles sped up.
Devon Schmeling and Quincy Pierce helped bring the Eagles back from the free-throw line and the perimeter.
Schmeling scored a team-high 19 points and shot 11 of 12 from the free-throw line. South Heart was 21 of 29 from the line, but was bested by Hettinger's 24-of-30 performance. Pierce had 17 points and was 6 of 11 from the field.
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"Devon started playing like we wanted him to do all year," Pierce said. "When he takes it to the basket, good things happen."
