PUEBLO - With his back against the wall, Scott Kiburis, who was holding his young son Will, had a look of disbelief in eyes.

Moments earlier, the veteran coach of the Grand Valley boys basketball team watched his squad upset top-ranked Evangelical Christian 71-52 on Friday night in the Class 2A state semifinals at the Colorado State Fair Events Center.

"We came out here (Friday night) focused and ready to play and the guys played very well," Kiburis said. "Now, we have to keep our focus (today) when we play for the state title."

Grand Valley (21-4) advanced to the first state championship game in school history.

"Their ability to make three- pointers was the biggest difference in this game," Evangelical Christian coach Don Bost said. "They were shooting lights out and their No. 1 (Sam McKinley) was hitting some NBA-range threes. We weren't making any shots and we could never get anything going."

The Cardinals, who made 14 threes in their quarterfinal win against Cripple Creek-Victor, drained eight from behind the arc against the Eagles (21-4).

McKinley hit four threes and scored 20 points.

"This feels so unreal, it is unbelievable," McKinley said. "We went out there and gave 110 percent and we wanted to shut Rob Lewis down, and Luke (Braby) did that."

Lewis, a 6-foot-7 post player and the reigning 2A Mr. Basketball, finished with 26 points, but he was held to six in the first half when the Cardinals took a 34-24 advantage.

Evangelical Christian......9	15	20	8	-	52
Grand Valley......11	23	21	16	-	71

EC - Brady Ragsdale 1 2-2 4, Ryan Hurd 1 0-0 2, Chris Dillavou 0 0-0 0, Dan Wood 0 0-0 0, Taylor Conrad 0 2-2 2, Josh Mann 1 0-0 3, Aaron Crews 0 0-0 0, Mike Huscher 5 4-6 15, Rob Lewis 9 7-7 26. Totals 17 15-17 52.

GV - Sam McKinley 5 6-9 20, Tyler Jensen 4 6-7 14, Mitch Belden 4 3-6 12, Colton Cowan 2 1-2 7, William Waugh 0 0-0 0, Derek Witt 0 0-0 0, Michael Shepard 0 0-0 0, Danny Manzanares 0 0-0 0, Richard Gallegos 2 0-0 5, Mike Davini 0 0-0 0, Matt Zollars 0 0-0 0, Luke Braby 5 3-6 13. Totals 22 19-30 71.

Three-point goals - EC, Mann, Huscher, Lewis; GV, McKinley 4, Cowan 2, Belden, Gallegos. Fouled out - Hurd, Conrad, Lewis.

BURLINGTON 49, SANFORD 46 - Clutch Burlington junior Nat David swished a three-pointer with less than a minute remaining, propelling the Cougars to a dramatic victory against Sanford in the semifinals.

"We have depended on Nat all season and he came through again, and I knew he would hit that shot," Burlington coach Tim Jones said.

Today will mark the Cougars' (22-3) first appearance in the state championship game since they won the 1948 Class C title.

The 5-foot-6 David, who had a game-high 18 points, drained his three from just to the right of the top of the key with 53 seconds remaining, giving Burlington a 48-46 advantage.

After Burlington's Cassidy Hallagin made the first of two free throws with 14.3 seconds remaining, Sanford rebounded the miss and immediately came up the court. The Burlington defense clamped down, though, and the Indians couldn't get off a shot before the buzzer.

Burlington......10	13	15	11	-	49
Sanford......8	14	15	9	-	46

B - Nat David 7 1-1 18, Preston Penny 0 2-4 2, Collen Medley 0 1-2 1, Logan Hines 0 0-2 0, Caanan Reeverts 0 0-0 0, Cassidy Hallagin 5 2-4 12, Loren Queen 7 0-2 14, Nolan Queen 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 6-15 49.

S - Tory Larsen 4 0-0 9, Dillon Larsen 3 0-0 8, Todd Crowther 3 0-0 6, Troy Reynolds 2 1-2 5, Trevor Mortensen 1 0-0 3, Keith Caldon 6 1-4 14, James Martinez 0 1-2 1, Austin Edgar 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 3-8 46.

Three-point goals - B, David 3; S, D.Larsen 2, T. Larsen, Mortensen, Caldon.

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