CARSON CITY – There’s no more intense type of pressure than having the basketball in your hands with the game on the line at tournament time.

But Ravenna sophomore Clay Schullo maintained his composure as he went in for the decisive layup on Monday in a Division 3 regional basketball matchup between the Bulldogs and North Muskegon, conference rivals that had to play in far-away Carson City.

With the score 41-40 in favor of Ravenna, and 12.8 seconds remaining, the Norse pushed hard to get a steal with their full court press.

But the Bulldogs beat the press and found Schullo for a layup to make the score 43-40 with 5.8 seconds remaining.

After a time out, the Norse had a final three-point attempt that missed the mark, and Ravenna escaped with an exciting victory and a berth in Wednesday’s regional championship game.

The Bulldogs, now 16-6, will take on Pewamo-Westphalia at Carson City Crystal High School at 7 p.m.

“As I was going up I thought ‘I got to go slow,’” Schullo said about his nerves as he went for the big layup. “I just had to take my time and make it.”

The two rivals, playing for the third time this season, showed their familiarity with one another on the defensive end all night. Ravenna was held to 3 of 13 shooting from three-point range and the Norse hit only 4 of 16 attempts.

“It’s extremely exhausting,” said Ravenna coach Courtney Kemp about the difficulty of playing a rival three times. “It’s tough to play a team that is so well coached. I was exhausted before tip-off. It’s highly stressful, but a fun game to be a part of.”

North Muskegon coach Chuck Rypstra expressed the same type of sentiment.

“They know what we’re going to do,” Rpystra said. “They overplayed some stuff and gave us fits. We thought we’d be ready for what they were going to do, but they got us going too fast in some of our man stuff.”

Defense dominated in the first quarter, leading to long possessions and not much scoring. Ravenna led 10-7 at the first buzzer

In the second quarter the Norse got their offense rolling a bit, outscoring Ravenna 12-3  to take a 19-13 lead into halftime.

Ravenna took advantage of some Norse sloppiness in the third quarter, pushed the ball up the court at every opportunity for layups, or drew fouls and went to the line. By the start of the fourth they cut their deficit to just one points, 29-28.

“They got back in the game with our turnovers,” said Rypstra about the Ravenna transition offense. “They were attacking the hoop and shot 18 free throws total in the game. We had a couple turnovers where we fumbled the ball and they were flying the other way.”

Ravenna jumped ahead at the start of the fourth when senior Kyle Beebe nailed two straight three-pointers.

“We just had to start hitting some shots,” Beebe said. “We know we’re fast, so we had to get the ball out and keep pushing it. Usually transition is our best offense to get it out and go.”

Ravenna led 41-38 with 12 seconds left when North Muskegon’s Jason Bogue hit a putback bucket to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to one.

That’s when the Norse pressed hard to try to get a turnover, but the Bulldogs broke the press and Schullo made his big layup.

Beebe led all scorers with 16 points on the night while Schullo added 13 points and 10 rebounds.

“It feels good,” said Beebe about getting the win and advancing ion the tournament. “It feels awesome to keep playing.”

North Muskegon was led by Brandon Rypstra with 10 points.

The Norse finished the season 15-9 and won their second straight district championship.

“They’re pretty down,” Coach Rypstra said about his players’ mood after the game. “Emotions are pretty tough. This is the first group that’s won back-to-back districts in a long time and they’ll always have that to hang their hats on.”

While Schullo may be just a sophomore, he was happy to play such a crucial role with his double-double to keep the season alive.

“I came in at halftime and said keep feeding me.,” Schullo said. “I knew they couldn’t guard me. It’s awesome to be part of an exciting run.”