Kimball boys third at SPVA tourney

The Kimball High boys went into the South Platte Valley Association basketball tournament seeded #3 and came out in the #3 spot after winning the consolation finals to claim third place in 7 school bracket.

The Longhorns opened play against #6 seeded Maxwell and won out 58-31, then suffered their second loss of the season falling to #2 seeded Chase County 59-53, but came back in the consolation finals to win over Sutherland 45-32. After last week's tournament play, the Horns are now 11-2 on the season.

In the win over Maxwell, Kimball jumped out to a 14-4 lead at the quarter break and led 34-10 at half time and Mike Daum already had 16 at the intermission point, and closed out the evening hitting a pair of long treys to finish with 25, taking game high scoring honors. He also led Kimball in rebounds with 15, had 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks for his usual solid performance. Kimball had 7 players score with Jake Reader charted with 8 points while seeing limited play due to a shoulder injury suffered in last week's play with Bridgeport. Colton Stull had 7 points with a trey plus 4 assists, 3 steals, and 2 rebounds. Jonathon Withrow had 7 points on 3/4 shooting hitting his only 3 point attempt, pulled 3 rebounds, had 3 assists, 2 steals and a blocked shot. Henry Heeg had 6 points going 4/4 at the foul line and had 6 rebounds. Angel Flores hit a trey for his 3 points, and Michael Ferguson had 2 along with 5 rebounds and 2 assists.

As a team, Kimball shot 7/9 at the line, 23/62 from the field going 5/18 on 3 pointers, had 39 rebounds, 14 assists, 9 steals, 4 blocks, 7 fouls, and 8 turnovers.

Maxwell had only one player in double figures with Zac Miller netting 10. The Wildcats had 23 rebounds, were 1/2 at the line, 14/50 from the field including 2/8 from 3 point range, and had 9 fouls.

Kimball 14 20 11 13 -- 58

Maxwell 04 06 15 06 -- 31

In semi final play on Friday night, the Horns fell behind by 6 points in the first quarter, and ended up losing by 6 to Chase county despite 41 points from Mike Daum as he equaled his own school single game scoring record set just last week. The big guy shot 50% from the field connecting on 16/32 attempts and nailed 6 treys including some beyond the NBA distance that brought oohs and aahs from the crowd. He completed his double-double with 12 rebounds, and had 2 blocks and 2 steals.

Jake Reader ended with 8 points and 9 rebounds but fouled out hurting the cause of the Horns late. Jonathon Withrow and Michael Ferguson had 2 points each to account for the balance of Kimball scoring.

Chase County scoring was not available at the time of this writing but they shot the ball very well with a reported 13 treys on the night and with the win ran their season record to 11-4.

Kimball shot 22/51 from the field going 6/16 on 3 point attempts, were 3/9 from the foul line, had 26 rebounds with 5 offensive, 4 blocks, 4 steals, 5 assists, 11 turnovers, and 17 fouls.

Kimball 07 13 17 16 -- 53

Chase Co. 13 15 13 18 -- 59

Kimball made that long trip home following the loss to Chase County, but came back strong the next day to win 45-32 over a good Sutherland club earning them the third place consolation finals plaque. Daum got some scoring help from his team mates on Saturday with three players in double figures led by Daum with 17, Reader and Stull 10 each, and Heeg 8.

Daum had another busy night as he was 8/17 from the field with 1 trey, and pulled 15 rebounds, had 3 blocks, 2 steals, and 1 assist. Reader had his 10 points along with 4 rebounds, 2 steals and an assist, Stull nailed 3 treys on the night, and Heeg swished a pair of treys plus 5 rebounds.

In team stats Kimball was 5/7 at the line, 17/55 from the field going 6/25 on 3 pointers, had 27 rebounds with 12 offensive, 9 assists, 7 steals, and 3 blocks, 14 fouls and only 5 turnovers!

Sutherland was led in scoring by sophomore Trey Rongisch with 16 as they shot 9/10 at the line, had 7 fouls, were 9/34 from the field and 5/lO on 3 point attempts. A busy week this week for Kimball as they were at Mitchell on Tuesday, will host Pine Bluffs Friday and go to Bridgeport Saturday, and then it's Western Trails Conference Tournament time next week beginning on Thursday (February 6). Kimball will again be the #3 seed and will host #6 seed Gordon/Rushville with start time yet to be determined.

Coach Bruce Tjosvold was disappointed of the loss to Chase County but happy with the way his team came back on Saturday. "I didn't think we played very good against Maxwell. We didn't play hard at times. Mike obviously had a great game against Chase County but we are still looking for other kids to step up" he said.

Kimball 06 13 13 13 -- 45

Sutherland 10 08 10 04 -- 32