Iowa’s Dashawn Ceasar dribbles in from the 3-point line during a Division II non-select semifinal game against Carroll Tuesday night at Burton Coliseum.. (Rodrick Anderson / American Press)

After falling behind by double digits, second-seeded Iowa made a run at No. 3 Carroll in the second half, but the Bulldogs held on to win 63-57 in a Division II non-select semifinal Tuesday night at the boys state basketball tournament at Burton Coliseum.

“There is a lot of little things that we just didn’t do,” Iowa head coach Rob Melanson said. “We fought back in the game, and we got several stops, especially in the fourth quarter. Either (Carroll) turned it over or missed free throws. I would say about five or six consecutive trips where we came down after stopping them and we were down five or six and we don’t score the ball while they were missing free throws. We just didn’t do those little things.

“We fought back. It could have been easy to tank it. We were down 10 at the half and not playing well. We gave ourselves a chance, it just wasn’t our night.”

Rictavion Johnson led Carroll with 20 points, including eight in the fourth quarter, while Lavion Owens controlled the paint with a 10-point, 12-rebound double-double.

“(Johnson) played a good game,” Melanson said. “We knew going in that he was their guy and he proved to be it. He hit big shots for them, especially in that first half. We dug ourselves too big of a hole in the first half. In the first half, we didn’t do a good job on the boards.”

Carroll (25-11) moved on to the final for the first time since winning the Class 3A state championship in 2013. It will face No. 4 Bossier at 6 p.m. Friday. The Bearcats upset No. 1 Wossman 48-42. Bossier won a state championship in 2020 and beat Carroll in the regular season 59-56.

Iowa (27-5), playing in its first state semifinal, saw its eight-game win streak end.

Carroll surged late in the second quarter and into the third quarter. Jaden Williams’ bucket on a fast break put the Bulldogs up 39-25 with 6:38 left in the third quarter.

Iowa started its rally late in the third quarter with the Bulldogs maintaining a solid double-digit lead. Iowa closed out the third quarter on a 14-3 run to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 45-42. Donovan Winey hit a 3-pointer off a pass from Dashawn Ceasar to cut the deficit to 45-41, and Desamonte Gradney hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it a three-point game. But Iowa struggled to maintain the energy into the fourth quarter as Carroll restored its double-digit lead, 56-46, 3 minutes into the quarter on a shot by Trey Neal.

Iowa had trouble shaking off a slow start in the first half.

The Yellow Jackets turned the ball over on their first two possessions and the Bulldogs turned it into a 6-0 lead. Ashton Scott scored the game’s first points on a backdoor layup on a pass from Owens, who added a bucket off of an offensive board 30 seconds later.

The Bulldogs shot 63 percent in the first quarter. Iowa was able to get back within three with 43 seconds left in the quarter on a 3-pointer by Ceasar, but the Bulldogs scored twice in the final 34 seconds, including De’Andre Washington’s fast-break bucket off a turnover.

Gradney led Iowa with 18 points and six rebounds, and Ceasar added 14 points.