Schieber delivers

This time, Okarche was the tougher team and perhaps nobody would be prouder than Ray West.

Behind a monster performance from Caden Schieber, Okarche toppled No. 2 Rattan 63-54 late Thursday night at State Fair Arena in the Class A boys state quarterfinals.

It pushed the fourthranked Warriors into the state semifinals for the 12th time and first time since 2019.

They faced No. 3 Sentinel (29-1) in Friday’s semifi nal (after press time).

Okarche was pitted against the very same foe a year ago in the state quarterfi nals.

Also ranked second last year, the Rams picked apart the Warriors down the stretch to pull away for a 75-60 victory. To add salt to the wound, Rattan also beat Okarche in the Class A baseball state semifinals last fall.

“We were out of position last year at times,” said coach Aaron West. “Maybe it was mistakes by me, but I believe in our guys and what we do.

“Maybe it was our first time there and we were pretty young.”

Okarche was young, meaning nearly every key player returned in 2024. The same can be said for the Rams.

West and assistants Brandon Treece and Hunter Frisby studied last year’s game film vigorously.

“We felt we beat ourselves last year,” West said. “Don’t get me wrong. Rattan was a great team last year and they are this year, but we just tried to take away what worked against us last year so it wouldn’t happen again.”

The teams traded buckets for much of the first half.

Jett Mueggenborg had eight early points as Okarche staked an 11-7 lead only to see Rattan answer with a 7-0 run.

The Rams led 17-16 after a quarter.

They used a 7-1 burst to stake a 28-21 lead with 3:46 to play in the half.

In the midst of all that, Schieber was struggling.

The senior is West’s nephew and the grandson of Okarche’s legendary coach, the late Ray West.

He’d missed some shots in the paint on offense then had a turnover after grabbing a rebound on defense, which led to him picking up his second foul.

His uncle benched him. “He just needed a breather and we gave him one just to settle him down,” West said.

Whatever it was, it worked.

With Rattan threatening to take control of the game, Schieber knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner.

He later flew down the lane, grabbed an offensive board in the air and put it back in to tie the game at 2828 with 1:34 left in the half.

The final 3:46 of the half saw Okarche hold Rattan without a field goal and close on a 12-2 run, capped by a Wyatt Pinkerton 3-pointer to take a 3330 lead.

It turned out Schieber was just getting warmed up.

He opened the scoring in the second half and made good on a three-point play at 5:35 of the third. His offensive rebound 24 seconds later led to two more free throws.

Schieber then scored with just three seconds in the quarter, giving him nine points in the stanza and helping the Warriors maintain their three-point advantage.

Mueggenborg and Easton Roby took care of the scoring in the fourth.

The two combined for a 6-0 run by Okarche to start the quarter to built a 54-45 lead.

The Rams cut it to five and had possession, but Mueggenborg picked off a pass, scored a layup, was fouled and completed a three-point play for a 57-49 lead with 2:32 to go.

Rattan didn’t fade as Logan Smith scored five straight. Smith eventually led his team with 15 points.

His bucket with 1:06 to play made it a 57-54 game, but Okarche hit back quickly.

Hunter Mueggenborg pushed the ball up the floor to find Jett Mueggenborg for a layup and a five-point lead.

Meanwhile, Roby and Schieber were cleaning up on the boards as Okarche held Rattan to just two points in the final 2:17.

Roby scored six points in the fourth quarter, including going 4 for 4 from the foul line.

He finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Jett Mueggenborg led all scorers with 18 points while Pinkerton added nine and Hunter Mueggenborg seven.

Schieber scored 14 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, helping the Warriors win the rebound battle by two.

“He was on a mission,” West said. “He didn’t want this to be his last game.”

Most of it happened after West sat him on the bench to settle him down.

“He came back in like a man that studied Dennis Rodman film,” West said.

“He just stepped up big. I know my dad would be extremely proud of his effort tonight.”

The Warriors beat Rattan in nearly every facet of the game, which was the opposite of what happened in 2023.

“We gave up some buckets on the back end last year, we didn’t attack downhill and we got out-rebounded,” West said of last season’s fate.

“I felt we won all three facets of the game this year. Multiple guys stepped up and we got key stops.

They beat us last year and beat us in the fall. Our guys didn’t want to lose this time. We were the tougher team this time around.”