One of those came in the form of a friendly gesture in the game's waning moments.
Gilbert senior Anthony Gibson, who has cerebral palsy, scored with 5.8 seconds left as the Buffalo players watched.
Gibson dressed for the State Tournament last year, but didn't play in a win over Buffalo or a loss to Wheeling Central.
"We got to live our dream; why not let him live his?" said Buffalo's leading scorer, Adam Scott.
"It made me feel good," Gibson said. "I was happy to do it."
Buffalo Coach Chuck Elkins, realizing the game was over, had a plan in the final minute.
"Our assistant coach went down and told the coach to put (Anthony) in the game and we'd let him score," Elkins said. "That's what high school games are all about."
Gibson's points didn't matter, especially after the Lions used their obvious size advantage to subdue the Bison (12-13), who had won 11 of their last 16 games to reach the State Tournament. Gilbert advanced to Friday's semifinal round against fifth-seeded Bishop Donahue (22-2) at 1 p.m.
Gilbert's 6-foot-8 junior Josh Birchfield had 21 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots against the Bison, whose tallest player is the 6-2 Scott.
"I try to take advantage of my size since I'm pretty much taller than anybody out there," Birchfield said.
Buffalo, which was making its third consecutive State Tournament appearance and was eliminated in the first round for the third straight year, had no answer despite doubling down and trying to make Birchfield dribble or shoot from the outside.
Six of Birchfield's rebounds were offensive and Gilbert had 36 points inside.
The Bison tried to answer with Scott, its best player, who had 15 points and eight rebounds. Gilbert (26-0), the only unbeaten team at the State Tournament, outrebounded Buffalo 49-27.
"We wanted to use our height and get the ball inside to Josh and Bradley (Rawls)," Miller said.
Buffalo actually cut the deficit to nine on a jump shot by Garrett Burdette with 3:49 left in the third period, but the Lions scored eight of the final 10 points in the quarter and pushed the advantage to 21 with 5:09 remaining in the game.
Four minutes later, the wheels started turning in the head of Elkins, who thought about more than just basketball.
Jeremy Brown had 14 points for Gilbert and Rawls added 10, but it was the two points from Gibson that meant something even for Buffalo.
"I don't know if he's gotten to play all year or gotten to score," Elkins said. "I have a feeling the next game they play or the next two games they play will be close enough where he won't get that chance."
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