A 38-37 down-to-the-wire Class 1A District 14 boys’ basketball thrilling victory by Paton-Churdan over Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton in Manning on Tuesday night advances the Rockets to Thursday night’s district title game. The Rockets improved to 17-5 while the Spartans end at 17-6. P-C won two of the three meetings this season in which the last two were each decided by one point.

Standout senior Noah Juergensen sat much of the second quarter with foul trouble and the Rockets saw a 14-12 lead after one quarter turn into a 21-16 halftime deficit. P-C led 27-26 after the third quarter and the final stanza was close all the way. In the final minute with P-C up 36-35, EH-K missed repeated shot attempts. Juergensen stole the ball in the final 10 seconds, passed to sophomore Joe Towers, who was then fouled. Towers made both free throws to put P-C ahead 38-35. The Spartans missed a three-point shot, rebounded the ball and made the put back, but time ran out and the Rockets had the one-point victory. Juergensen played with four fouls the final six minutes and finished with eight points. Towers had 12 points, Chase Juergensen added 10 and Jake Berns scored eight. There were 10 lead changes in the contest.

P-C meets IKM-Manning in Guthrie Center at 7 p.m. tomorrow night. That winner meets the District 13 winner for the Substate 7 title and trip to the State Tournament in Des Moines next month. The Wolverines are 20-2 and are ranked ninth in 1A. IKM-Manning is led by 6′ 4″ senior Kyle Wagner’s 23 points per game. IKM-Manning was a 76-43 winner on Tuesday over Audubon.