DC West hangs on against GICC to advance to state semifinals for the first time 

LINCOLN – Two schools who weren’t even in the C1 classification a season ago faced off for the right to be among the class’s final four in 2026 on Thursday morning at the Devaney Center, where #4-seed Douglas County West built up a big halftime lead and then held on to defeat #5-seed Grand Island Central Catholic to earn their first win at the state tournament in program history.  

The Falcons have made it to Lincoln three years in a row, but they were blown out in the Class B quarterfinals last March by Class B ever-presents Skutt Catholic. Now moving down to C1, the Falcons have been one of the best teams in the state all season, and proved that by moving on to the semifinals for the first time after bowing out in the quarterfinals in each of their first two trips here.  

Early on, it sure looked like the Falcons would have a smooth flight into that semifinal round. They started extremely strong Thursday morning, limiting the Crusaders to just one made field goal over the opening eight minutes – and that came in the closing seconds. GICC got its offense more in gear in the second quarter, but DC West still put up 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting and built a 32-15 lead at the halftime break.  

After a sluggish start, the Crusaders did all they could to author a comeback in the second half. They quite literally flipped the script from the first quarter where they were outscored 12-3 by outscoring DC West 13-3 in the third. The surge kept coming: Isaac Urbanski hit three shots in the fourth quarter to bring GICC all the way back to within five at around the halfway mark, and then a bucket from Wolfe made it a four-point game with about two minutes to go.  

But that’s as close as GICC would get. Back to back buckets from Trey Olsen around that shot from Braylon Wolfe helped give the Falcons some breathing room, and Olsen then wrapped up the win with a pair of free throws in the final 15 seconds. The game was never tied and DC West led for all but two minutes of the morning, but the Falcons still had to hold on for the 49-41 win to move on to the semifinals for the first time.  

Lane Smith led all players with 14 points (4-of-6 FG) for the Falcons, Olsen finished with 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds, and Nolan Asher added in nine and seven. Urbanski was the Crusaders’ top scorer with eight points off the bench; Thomas Birch provided six points and six boards before fouling out.  

#4-seed DC West advances to the 2026 C1 semifinals, where they will take on the bracket’s top-seed, Ogallala, after their dominant win over Syracuse Thursday morning. That semifinal is scheduled for 9 AM Friday at Pinnacle Bank Arena, and you can watch it live on News Channel Nebraska.  

BOX SCORE:

DC West Full Box Score

GICC Full Box Score