New Prague had cut Columbia Heights’ lead to 53-50 with a minute remaining in Thursday’s Class 3A boys’ basketball semifinal. The Trojans, who knocked off St. Paul Johnson with a barrage of three pointers on Wednesday, were one turnover and one more big shot away from being in prime position to take their unseeded run into the title game.

Columbia Heights star Zach Lofton took a short inbounds pass, looked up and then put his head down. He was most of the Target Center floor’s 94 feet away from his goal. Time to play it safe, many were thinking.

And his coach, Willie Braziel was thinking … “I’m letting him go. He’s done it all season. I’m going to ride with him.”

Lofton delivered perhaps the most important of his 31 points, gliding in after his end-to-end drive for a short shot off the glass and a five-point lead in an eventual 57-50 victory.

Braziel, who has pushed all the right buttons this season, had shown the correct instincts yet again, helping his Hylanders reach the title game in their first state tournament appearance since 1930.

Lofton was asked for his thought process on the play.

“If we were passing the ball around, something could happen — a turnover, something,” he said. “When I saw they didn’t have a double or triple team coming at me, I knew I had them.”

It’s been a long time since the Hylanders — and Braziel — had that feeling. Braziel was part of the Marshall University High team that won 53 consecutive games and the 1976 state championship. The next year?

“We lost 69-66 to Silver Bay,” Braziel said, half grinning and half grimacing. “Not like I remember it or anything.”

He hadn’t been back to the state tournament until this year, making this journey extra special for both the program and the coach.

“I won’t even lie. I was overwhelmed with emotion the night we beat DeLaSalle [for the section title],” Braziel said. “But I had to get re-composed for this.”

That was a constant theme for his team in the second half of Thursday’s game. Lofton is a high-energy player who can take himself out of the flow with inwardly directed negative emotions. Even after the victory, he was upset at himself over missed shots and free throws; in the handshake line, Lofton looked as though he played for the losing team.

But the offense flows through Lofton, and there is a method to it all. The Hylanders are athletic, to be sure, but they take care of the ball. They had just five turnovers in their quarterfinal victory and had only three at halftime against New Prague. There were too many in the second half Thursday — 10 to be exact — but Braziel still coaxed a victory out of his guys by keeping faith in Lofton when it mattered most.

“With these caliber coaches … them giving me freedom, that’s crazy for me,” Lofton said. “I’m glad they believe in me.”