2015 Nebraska Class B State Tournament: Assist administrator

In mid-February of 2013, Alliance led Sidney High School 60-58 with 0.9 seconds left to play at the Cabela's Athletic Facility. But after the Raiders' sophomore-point guard Lane Harvey was fouled attempting a shot behind the arc in front of a packed house, the Red Raiders were given one more chance to please the home-town crowd.

After his first two free throws swished though the strings to tie the game – assuring at least another chance in overtime – Harvey was surrounded by his back-slapping teammates.

But Harvey appeared unmoved. That is, until the third one fell and Sidney completed its 11-point comeback on the final day of the 2013 regular season. That night remains one of Harvey's favorite Raiders basketball memories – though their may be still more to come.

Harvey, the most experienced varsity player on the Sidney squad, leads the Raiders into Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln on Thursday morning for a first-round game of the 2015 NSAA Class B Boys Basketball State Championships. As the third seed, Sidney will tip off against No. 6 Scottsbluff at 9:45 MDT.

Harvey opened up his high school career splitting time as the starting point guard and took over the job fulltime in mid-season. He has been there ever since. But for all the outstanding teams Harvey has been a part of and all the talented players he has shared the court with, he has never before this season played on the Lincoln stage.

The last time the Raiders made the state tournament was in 2010 when they lost a first-round game to South Sioux City. Sidney hasn't won a game at state since it defeated Scottsbluff 52-42 in the third-place game in 2009. The 2015 tournament marks only the second time the Raiders and Bearcats will meet at state and the first time they will play with both having a chance to win a title.

The present Raiders represent the 39th team Sidney has sent to the tournament since its first appearance in 1911. Though Sidney lost to Geneva in the opening round 23-18, Sidney nearly won a state title in 1914 before losing to Lincoln High, 14-9, in the finals.

The Raiders have played 62 games at state with a record of 27-35. Only twice have the Raiders – or the Maroons as they were known before the late 1960s – won a state championship (1945, 1981).

"The last time we went to state I was in the seventh grade," Harvey said. "It doesn't happen too often so it's a pretty special thing. I want to enjoy it as much as possible and play as hard as I can. I know my teammates feel the same way."

Though Sidney had a solid enough basketball team in Harvey's first season to win 15 games, it was helped even more when Harvey was inserted as the every-day starting point guard.

"As the season progressed, Lane just became the best person for that job," said Jay Ehler, who was then the Raiders' head coach and is now the Sidney Schools superintendent. "The thing about Lane is he's very athletically savvy. He knows all the sports he plays very well.

"Even as a freshman, he was one of the smartest guys on the court. His knowledge of the game was very high for a freshman," Ehler added.

When Erik Kohl took over the Raiders' head coaching job in Harvey's sophomore campaign, he saw no reason to depart from what Ehler had started. Harvey has been Kohl's starter at the point since Day 1.

Among Harvey's favorite team memories during his time in the Raiders backcourt, a moment from his freshman campaign stands out the most. At a time when Scottsbluff was the top-rated Class B team in the state, the Raiders knocked off the Bearcats 56-54. Though Scottsbluff won state that year, any time the Raiders can beat their arch-rival Bearcats, it's a special day.

"They're always so good you have to respect them every time you play against them," Harvey said. "They can just score the ball. They run the court very well and have a lot of size. They're all very intense competitors too and we're the same way.

"We're a very tight-knit group and our basketball IQ is very high so we'll have to have all that going for us (on Thursday). We feel very positive right now," Harvey added.

Among the reasons Sidney (20-4) has had such an outstanding year is its team play. Harvey is third on the team in scoring (9.4 points per game), second in steals (34) and first in assists (84).

"I don't know what I envisioned for this team at the start of the year, but I don't think I envisioned this kind of success," Kohl said. "But our team chemistry is unbelievable. Our willingness to make the extra pass is just amazing.

"We broke our all-time record for assists in an individual game, I think, twice this year ... That's what's so special," he added.

Harvey, who was the starting quarterback on the Raiders football team for three seasons and a six-year player in the Sidney American Legion baseball program, will be headed to Indian Hills (Iowa) Community College in the fall on a baseball scholarship.