RAPID CITY - It is a rare occurrence for a big game to live up to all the hype surrounding it. Tuesday's Region 8A boys' basketball championship game between No. 1-ranked Red Cloud and two-time defending state champion St. Thomas More was one of those rare occurrences.

Red Cloud avenged Region 8A defeats at the hands of the Cavaliers in 2006 and 2007 with a 56-55 victory to send the Crusaders to their first Class A state tournament since 1997.

"I don't know what the difference was, honestly," Red Cloud head coach Matt Rama said. "It was one of those games, you know, No. 1 versus No. 2, that with a bounce here or there could have gone either way."

In a sentiment that certainly would have been echoed by most of the nearly 7,000 fans in attendance, Rama lamented the timing of the game.

"It's just too bad that it had to be regions and couldn't have been at the state tournament," he said.

The game started quickly for Red Cloud, as seniors Lester Gotheridge and Christian McGhee went after their last chance at a state tourney appearance with the hunger and intensity of champions. Red Cloud jumped out to 15-9 and 27-20 leads at the first two quarter stops.

"It feels good, man," an emotional McGhee said after the game. "We wanted this one bad. My cousin Tanner (Wince) is the best, and this means the world to me."

As good as McGhee was for Red Cloud, Wince was his equal for St. Thomas More. In a game where big shots were the norm, Wince and McGhee hit the lion's share for each of their teams. McGhee scored 16 points, including the last two free throws that iced the game for the Crusaders. Wince scored 16 points for More on five 3-pointers, all of which were key, pressure shots. Gotheridge scored 20 points to lead the Crusaders.

"We lost to a good team," St. Thomas More head coach Dave Hollenbeck said. "They're very talented and they deserved to win. They played hard, they made their shots and they deserve to go to state.

"We'll be cheering for them."

The loss ended the high school careers of seniors Nate Jacobson, Stevie Statz, Dan Enos, Cash Kinghorn and Wince, who Hollenbeck singled out for their contributions to the program.

"That group of seniors has been around for a great stretch of basketball around here," Hollenbeck said of a four-year span that saw the Cavaliers go to four straight region title games and win two state titles. "They've done a lot and meant a lot to this program and we're definitely sad to see them go."

And now it's up to the Crusaders to represent Region 8 at the Class A state tournament beginning next Thursday in Sioux Falls.

"I kept telling the seniors that they have one more chance," Rama said. "One more chance and then high school's over. It's over and you'll never get that chance again. I'm going to be here a while so I might win it, but if you want to get there you're going to have to put the work in. They chose to do that, so it's really rewarding for them. They've earned it because they've put in so much time in the gym. I see them there every morning, every night, in the summer, they're there after football practice, after track practice. They've worked so hard for this and they really do deserve it."

The Crusaders took a 47-45 lead down under a minute before Gotheridge was fouled. He hit 1-of-2 free throws with 51.8 seconds left, but a foul was called on More's Jeremy Kudrna on the miss, sending Red Cloud's Billy Scott to the line. Scott hit both tosses to make it a 50-45 game. More's Statz, who gave a great effort with 14 points, scored to make it 50-47 off a nice pass from Jacobson, but the Crusaders' practice paid off, as they knocked down their free throws and never gave the Cavaliers a chance to tie. Wince hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it a 56-55 game.

More ends its season at 20-3 while Red Cloud moves on to the state tournament with a 22-1 mark.