MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- You don't need a lot of scoring to create a lot of excitement. Much of it was jammed into the final 2 1/2 minutes before defending Division 1 champion Oshkosh West eked out a 34-32 victory over Milwaukee King Thursday afternoon in the Division 1 semifinals of the WIAA State Boys Basketball Tournament. "We were one inch off from having pandemonium in (our) locker room," King coach Jim Gosz said. "It was a scrum for the last eight seconds. We had a chance and came up short." He referred to a last-second shot by Roy Ewing that bounced off the rim and left West (22-2) still alive in its bid to defend its title. Ewing had grabbed a rebound of a shot from outside by WQuinton Smith. King (17-8) came alive down the stretch after falling behind 31-21 with 2:43 to play. But two free throws by Bryan Brown and back-to-back 3-pointers by Jared Jenkins and Ewing made it 31-29 with 1:15 left. The game wrapped up with three free throws -- two by Austin Meier at 1:02 and one by Tim Jarmusz with 21 seconds left. Those were sandwiched around a 3-pointer by Ewing, his third of the game. Meier finished with 11 points and Brady Borgardt had 10 for the Wildcats. Ewing led the Generals with 9 points. Brown led all rebounders with 10. "King played it the way we expected," West coach Lance Randall said. "What I didn't expect was us to be sloppy with the ball and miss as many shots as we did. "We thought this game would be a street fight and it was. They got hot at the end and got themselves back in it, but we held on the last stop." The exciting finish came in a game that got off to a slow start. The first quarter ended with King leading 4-3. It was 10-9 at halftime, thanks in part to West missing five straight free throws. Neither team shot well, the Wildcats making 20 percent (2-for-10) and King connecting on 31 percent (4-13) from the field. It was tied at 18 after three quarters, and West built a 10-point lead before the dramatic rally that came up short for the Generals, much to the relief of the Wildcats. "This team battles," Borgardt said. "We gutted it out and made some free throws down the stretch." (Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)