Trinity Valley’s Garrett Nuckolls, a former Bullard High School standout, shoots against Cowley (Kan.) on Wednesday at Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kan. (Kristy Ehart Photography/NJCAA)

The No. 7 Trinity Valley Cardinals rallied from a 12-point deficit in the second half to score a 61-60 win over No. 2 Cowley (Kansas) on Wednesday in quarterfinal game of the NJCAA National Basketball Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas.

The Cardinals (31-3) advance to the semifinals to play the winner of the No. 6 Panola vs. No. 14 Vincennes (Indiana) game at 8 p.m. Friday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.

In other quarterfinal matchups, No. 4 South Plains (Texas) rallied past No. 12 Angelina 79-70 and No. 17 Connors State (Oklahoma) downed No. 8 Daytona State (Florida), 66-65.

TVCC-COWLEY

The Cardinals trailed by 12, 39-27, with 15:21 to play and then survived a last-second attempt by Cowley for the 61-60 victory. It is the second time TVCC has advanced to the national semifinals in school history.

With 10:10 on the clock, TVCC took the lead, 43-42, on Cameron Williams’ jump shot. Tyler Smith made a layup at the 7:17 mark for a 51-42 advantage.

The Tigers then made the game tight as Marcus Whitlock Jr. made the first two free throws after he was fouled on a 3-point attempt to pull within 61-60 with 12 seconds showing. He missed the third free throw shot, but teammate Emarquis Jones rebounded but then turned the ball over.

Cowley had another chance as Shamarrie Hugie stole the ball. After a timeout with seven seconds showing, the Tigers went for the win, but Jones missed and TVCC’s Zati Loubaki rebounded at the buzzer.

Tyler Smith and Williams led Trinity Valley with 14 points apiece and Loubaki added 12. Other scores were from Garrett Nuckolls (9), M.J. Wardlow (6), Camarion Johnson (4) and Charles Outlaw (2).

The Cardinals were 12 of 14 at the free throw line and 1 of 14 from the 3-point line (Nuckolls).

Whitlock led Cowley with 22 points. He was followed by Marcus Zeigler (13) and Hugie (11).

The Tigers were 11 of 20 at the free throw line and 7 of 22 from the 3-point line (Whitlock, 5; Hughie, 1; Ziegler, 1).

Cowley ended its season at 30-5.

ANGELINA-SOUTH PLAINS

In a matchup of East Texas vs. West Texas, the South Plains Texans of Levelland rallied in the second half to down the Angelina Roadrunners of Lufkin.

South Plains (29-6) will play Connors State (Oklahoma) (31-3) at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the semifinals. Angelina ends its season at 28-7.

The Roadrunners took a 56-49 lead on a Christian Jones’ 3-pointer with 11:12 of the second half.

The Texans took the lead for good, 59-57, on a jump shot by Didlier Maleng with 6:07 showing.

Jordan Mathews led Angelina with 16 points, followed by Chris Carpenter (15) and Kanaan Holder (14).

The Roadrunners were 14 of 21 at the free throw line and 8 of 21 from the 3-point line (Jones, 3; Holder, 2; Kyle Morgan, 2; Carpenter, 1).

Caleb Blackwell led the Texans with 18 points. He was followed by Issac Taveras (14), IJ Ezuma (14) and Arterio Morris (13). Ezuma had 10 rebounds.

The Texans were 19 of 28 at the free throw line and 6 of 16 from the 3-point line (Blackwell, 2; Jalen Ricks, 2; Morris, 1; Tavaj Cope, 1).