RAPID CITY - The No. 1-ranked Class A Red Cloud Crusaders trapped the Custer Wildcats into a 12-0 deficit to start their District 15A boys' basketball championship Thursday at the civic center and held on, despite a lackluster second half, for a 60-51 win.

"It's always nice to jump on a team early and get a lead," Red Cloud head coach Matt Rama said. "We're definitely a team of runs, but it would've been nice to have another one sometime."

One Red Cloud player felt the difference in getting the lead and failing to expand on it came down to simply talking to each other.

"We communicated on 'D,'" Red Cloud senior Lester Gotheridge said of grabbing the early lead. The Crusaders (21-1) forced six Custer turnovers as they jumped in front by a dozen points. "We had real good communication at first, then when we started going down we got quiet and then we started turning the ball over."

Rama wasn't disappointed in his team's intensity, but did question their focus a bit.

"I thought the effort was there, but our execution definitely wasn't there," Rama said.

"You've got to give credit to Custer, though. They played their hearts out. (Isaac) Parsons is out there, a senior, and whether we were making the mistakes ourselves or they were forcing us to make them, I know that we're better than that."

The Crusaders shot an uncharacteristic 32 percent (18-for-56) and turned the ball over 24 times.

The Wildcats (18-4) did everything they could to get back into the game, but the nine-point final margin was actually as close as they were at any point in the game. The win sets up a Region 8A championship game at the civic center on Tuesday night against St. Thomas More. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.

"It's a win," Rama said. "It's all we could do. It's the same situation as last year. We've played St. Thomas More and haven't been able to get it done the last two years. Hopefully this year is different and we can finish it up and beat them. We'll see what happens."

Red Cloud got some measure of revenge for the last two region championship defeats when it defeated St. Thomas More 53-49 at the Hanson Classic in Mitchell on Jan. 19. But there's little doubt that Tuesday's game is the one that really matters.

Christian McGhee, a senior point guard, paced the Crusaders with 18 points. Big men Gotheridge and Mike Twiss added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Parsons scored 21 points in his final game for the Wildcats. Jared Foote added 10 points. Parsons, Foote and Doug Sirois are the only seniors on the Custer roster.