CATLIN – Somewhere among the sea of folks dressed in red and black celebrating, Chrisman coach Greg Gisinger held 9-month-old daughter Olivia in his left arm while clutching the game ball and net in his right.

Forgive the first-year coach if the right-handed grip is a little tighter at the moment.

"It's hard. I've got a death grip on all three of them, I think," Gisinger said after his Cardinals stunned top-ranked Salt Fork 48-46 in a Class 1A regional final in front of a capacity crowd Friday at Catlin High School.

When Joel Learnard buried a three-pointer from the left wing to give the Storm (29-2) a 41-32 lead with five minutes remaining, it looked like the reigning state champs might con- tinue their march to a second straight state crown.

But a 9-0 Chrisman run bookended by a pair of Nathan Ross three-pointers gave the Cardinals life.

"They missed a few free throws, which is uncharacteristic of them, and Nathan Ross – oh, God – he hit some big shots," Gisinger said.

Ross entered the fourth quarter with two points and his three three-pointers in the fourth quarter were his only field goals. But they proved to be huge.

"I felt like being a senior captain I had to step up or we're not gonna do anything," Ross said. "I got great screens from Trevor Burmood. Coach ran great offense, I told them I want the ball. He got me the ball, I have to thank Derrick McCormick (six points, five steals) for hitting me on those, too."

The hero, however, was almost the goat. After McCormick hit a pair of free throws with 7.2 seconds remaining to give Chrisman a 48-45 lead, Salt Fork's David Keenan (eight points) made the second of two free throws. Ross' inbounds pass fell into the arms of Salt Fork's Learnard (21 points, eight rebounds), whose wide-open three from the left wing bounced off the back iron shortly before time expired.

"I think I went brain dead, I think I blacked out for a second. I know my heart dropped down to my feet," Gisinger said of Learnard's shot. "I thought he made it, it was right on line. He's a big-time player. That kid is so freaking good."

Ross thought he had denied his team the chance to become the first Class 1A team to beat Salt Fork, which got 11 points from Ryan Anderson, since 2009.

" 'Oh, God.' I thought I just gave the game away. He's a very good player," Ross said of Learnard. "He's All-State, you can't give him wide-open shots and we got lucky. I'm thankful that it was a little long."

Friday's win served as a measure of revenge for the Cardinals (25-5), who lost to the Storm twice during the season. Two years ago it was Chrisman who beat Salt Fork twice in the regular season, only to fall to the Storm in the regional championship game.

"Media and everybody has always been on their side," Chrisman's Cody Owen (13 points) said. "You put a pit bull in a cage for a while and you just keep harassing him for a while and you let it out it's gonna be furious."

Like his coach with the game ball, Ross had a vice grip on the regional championship plaque afterward.

"I can't even explain it, really. I'm on top of the world right now," he said. "This is probably the greatest moment of my life so far. Chrisman just loves basketball and I'm so glad to return this puppy back on home."