A year ago, Lincoln Pius X limped into the Class A boys state basketball tournament.
The Thunderbolts needed a wild card after losing to Millard South in the district final and their star point guard Charlie Easley needed crutches and a boot on his left foot just to get around.
The only time last spring Easley got a reprieve from the boot was to play in the first-round state tournament game against Omaha South, which the Thunderbolts lost.
“I probably shouldn’t have been playing, but there was no way I was going to miss playing in the state tournament with my brother (Jack Easley) and cousin (TJ Hansen) in their senior year,” Easley said. “I don’t regret it.”
Easley’s stress reaction in his left tibia lingered through the summer and fall, but the injury finally faded away just before his junior basketball season started in November. A healthy Easley, the emergence of several other scoring options outside of Easley and senior standout guard Joe Burt along with the benefit of a challenging Class A schedule has Pius X hitting its stride at just the right time.
People are also reading…
Two days after rolling up 85 points in a 32-point win over Omaha South in the first round of the A-7 district tournament, the Thunderbolts struck for 91 in a 15-point victory at No. 6 Millard South in the finals.
That’s tied for the best single-game point total in Class A this season (Bellevue West also netted 91 points on two different occasions).
The No. 10 Thunderbolts (17-8), who face top-ranked Creighton Prep in the first round Thursday at 7 p.m. at Pinnacle Bank Arena, got the usual production from the 6-foot-2 Easley in the district final, scoring 22 points (five over his team-leading average of 17.5 per game) while also grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out six assists.
Easley is shooting 42 percent from beyond the three-point arc, 55 inside it and 82 percent from the free-throw line.
But it was fellow junior guard Joe Dworak who made it a special night. The 5-9 Dworak unloaded for 35 points, hitting 14 of 18 shots overall from the field and 4 of 7 three-pointers.
“One of our goals at the beginning of the season was to add a consistent third scorer to go with Charlie and Joe (Burt), and Joe Dworak has filled that role,” Pius X coach Brian Spicka said of Dworak, who is shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc (33-of-83). “His ability to shoot the three-pointer stretches the defense and has opened up driving lanes for our other guys.”
It’s also created opportunities going to the basket for himself as well.
“Since I’ve had success with my outside shot, more and more teams are starting to guard me closer out there, and that makes it easier to drive around them,” Dworak said. “That’s how all of our guards think — attack first, then take the jumper second.”
Dworak averages nine points a game, just behind the 6-2 senior Burt, a Doane recruit who is scoring 10 a contest.
A couple of other underclassmen — 6-1 sophomore guard Kolbe Rada and 6-3 junior swingman Austin Jablonski — combine to average 12 points per game. Thomas Robertson, a 6-4 senior and three-year starter, had 10 points in the district final.
“All of these components have come together to make us an explosive offensive team,” Spicka said. “We want to play fast and wear people down, and we feel we can go nine or 10 deep and not drop off at all.”
Pius X lost to Creighton Prep on the road 73-52 on Feb. 3, a game that was closer than the final score indicated. Prep outscored the Thunderbolts 34-12 in the final 10 minutes, 55 seconds of the game after Pius X was in front four different times in the third quarter.
Easley played on the same Omaha Sports Academy Crusader select team this past summer with Creighton Prep junior guard Jaylin Hunter and junior center Akol Arop.
“There won’t be any surprises either way,” Easley said. “It will be fun playing against them and a great challenge. We stayed with them for three quarters the last time, then it turned because of a couple of defensive lapses and turnovers.”