By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

Survive and advance.

In postseason, it's not how you win, it's just that you win.

In Tuesday's first round of the Class 1A State High School Basketball Championships, Quinter's boys held on for a 63-55 win over Pretty Prairie in Gross Memorial Coliseum.

"That's what the state tournament is all about -- survive and advance," Quinter coach John Crist said.

"We hung on and got a win."

Quinter (26-0), last year's state runner-up, made two big runs on Pretty Prairie (21-5), but couldn't put away the No. 8 seed in the field.

"We told our kids this is the state tournament, and all of the teams are good," Crist said. "You've got to put teams away.

"I think we had a 21- or 22-point lead there in the third quarter, and I never felt comfortable with it," Crist said.

"I always felt Pretty Prairie could make a run, they have some good 3-point shooters."

Quinter, the top seed and ranked No. 1 in the state, took a 14-2 lead in the first quarter, but Pretty Prairie battled back to make it 16-11 after the first eight minutes.

In the second quarter, Quinter went on a 16-2 run for a 32-15 lead, and was up 38-21 at halftime.

Pretty Prairie trailed by as many as 22 points in the third quarter, 45-23, before getting within to 13 entering the fourth quarter.

Quinter saw its lead shrink to 58-54 on a pair of free throws by Pretty Prairie junior Hunter Pittman with 1:03 left in the game.

"Instead of playing to win, we lost our aggressiveness," Crist said. "For being a senior-dominated team, I think we lost our poise a little bit. I thought we lost aggressiveness.

"Give credit to Pretty Prairie. They kept fighting, kept fighting, got it back to four points. Luckily, we were able to make our free throws, and finish the game."

Pretty Prairie had to foul after Pittman's free throws, and an intentional foul was called on freshman Brandon Keeler.

Quinter senior point guard Brady Reed swished both free throws, and Quinter got the ball.

Pretty Prairie had to foul again, and senior guard Matt Bird swished a free throw with 45 seconds left to make it 61-54. Reed added two more free throws with 31 seconds remaining to finally put away pesky Pretty Prairie.

Quinter had had just one game in single digits this season, a 52-47 victory over Hill City in the first game back from Christmas break. Now, make that two.

"I knew that coming into the state tournament that we hadn't played a lot of close games," Crist said. "I was hoping that wouldn't come back to haunt us.

"I think you could see it a little bit out there today with the kids. Again, lost their aggressiveness, probably because we hadn't played a lot of close games. Hopefully, we learn from that and go on," Crist added.

Senior center Zach Nemechek led Quinter with 20 points and eight rebounds. Senior center Scott Ochs added 14 points, while Reed scored 12, and Bird finished with 11 points.

Bird, the team's leading scorer on the season, got poked in the eye in the fourth quarter and sat out several minutes. When he returned, the eye was red and swollen.

"It's pretty sore; he can't see out of it very good," Crist said. "I'm glad we don't play (today)."

Pretty Prairie got a game-high 21 points from Pittman. Senior center Joseph Lampe added 12 points and 15 rebounds, with six blocked shots.

Quinter will play Montezuma-South Gray (25-1) in Thursday's 4:45 p.m. semifinals at GMC. South Gray rallied for a 54-45 victory over Macksville.