The postseason has arrived and those green and white jerseys still say “Oilers.” Central Plains led USD 112 counterpart Wilson by just four points at the half of Monday’s Class 1A regional game in Claflin. The Oilers turned that into a running clock early in the fourth en route to a big 58-22 win.

Ted Schmid’s Oilers have slowed the ball down all season. Monday night Central Plains put up 20 shots in the first quarter and 15 more in the second. Only eight of those 35 shots found the bottom of the net.

“I took them for granted and took too many shots in the first half when we should have moved the ball,” said Schmid. “We thought we’d just dominate from the word ‘go’ and we didn’t.”

Central Plains passed the ball well all evening, starting with the opening basket – a baseline jumper from Ethan Hurley on an assist from Jerred Bieberle. Wilson junior Garrett Thielen found the equalizer via a putback just a few seconds later and the race was on.

Half of Central Plains’ first 20 shots came from the outside. Senior JJ Heredia knocked down a pair of firstquarter threes and scored eight points in the frame. Senior Lawson Oeser added a trey and scored five points. The Oilers pulled ahead 15-10 after one quarter.

Central Plains cooled way off in the second quarter, making just two of its 15 shots in the frame. They were able to stay above water with a 19-9 edge on the glass midway through the first quarter.

“That was a big negative for us,” said Wilson coach Trenton Ptacek. “If we would have had five or six more rebounds, it might have been a completely different game.”

The Oilers missed their first nine attempts from the floor in the second quarter before Bieberle tipped in a miss with 3:47 to play in the first half. Bieberle scored the only two Oiler field goals in the quarter, and Charlie Hlad’s 3-pointer on the other end was the only Dragon basket in the quarter. Central Plains clung to a 19-15 lead at the break.

Everything changed in the second half as Central Plains made its first three shots of the third quarter. Oeser knocked down a pair of jumpers in the first 68 seconds, then Hurley found Dylan Kitchen down low for a quick 6-0 run.

Cole Lamatsch grabbed a steal and passed to Heredia to cap the 8-0 run before Wilson senior Westin Hughes sank a fall-down jumper. Heredia kept up a busy third with a steal and missed basket that Lamatsch cleaned up. Heredia scored the next five points before dropping a pass to Tyler Holmes

Heredia scored the next five points before dropping a pass to Tyler Holmes in the paint. Thielen knocked down a shot at the buzzer but the Oilers still led 37-20.

Bieberle took over early in the fourth quarter with eight-straight points in a 65-second span. Hurley and Heredia picked up assists in that run. In all, the Oilers made eight of their 10 shots in the final eight minutes. Bieberle’s free throw with 4:46 remaining set the clock in motion for good with a 50-20 score.

“(In the first half ) we were missing all kinds little bunnies,” Schmid said. “We shot too many threes to start but we felt comfortable with it. In the second half, Jerred came down and hit four in a row.”

Heredia led all players with 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Bieberle scored 11 of his 15 points in the final quarter, and Oeser also reached double figures with 12 points. Michael Laymon scored four points late, and Hurley, Holmes, Kitchen, and Lamatsch each scored two points for the Oilers.

Wilson lost the rebound battle 28-13 through the first three quarters. Thielen paced the Dragons with nine points and six boards. Hughes finished with five points, Hlad and Cooper Weinhold each scored three points, and Camryn Eberhart contributed the other two points.

Wilson closes out its season at 6-13 overall. Ptacek says goodbye to seniors Hughes, Hlad, and Cody Slechta, who grabbed a late rebound.

“Westin is a good ball handler so we’ll have to replace that next year and that will be a little tough,” Ptacek said. “Charlie was a good offensive rebounder. He was scrappy and worked hard on the defensive end. We’re going to miss that, too. Cody worked hard in practice every day. He came out because we needed numbers. He’s a good kid who worked hard and he helped us out tremendously even though he didn’t get to see playing time.”

Central Plains improves to 8-12 overall. The Oilers host No. 1 seed LaCrosse (16-4) in Thursday’s semifinal game. The winner of that game advances to Saturday’s regional title game, and both regional finalists advance to substate.

“We have a lot of work to get done,” said Schmid. (LaCrosse) beat us by six at their house. It’s going to be a war. They have the set of guards that are as quick as ours. They just run that wheel where they keep dribbling closer and closer. They keep cutting that corner and they’re pretty good at it.”