Kimball boys fall to Bridgeport

The Kimball High boys are 13-3 after play of the past week.

They started out with a Tuesday night road win at Mitchell where they had to battle hard to pullout a 55-47 victory, had an easier night at home with Pine Bluffs Friday night coming out on top 78-54, but then lost on the road at Bridgeport

Saturday 74-57. Back in January, the Horns had handled the Bridgeport club 65-53, but the Bulldogs were on fire on their home court putting on a shooting exhibition that could scare any opponent. Good chance they might meet up again this week at the WTC tournament.

Teams like to play on their home courts and it's tough to compete on the road especially. At Mitchell Tuesday evening, the Horns found themselves trailing 15-10 at the end of the first quarter, but got rolling in the second period to outscore the Tigers 19-6 and take a half time lead of 29-21. The third quarter belonged to Mitchell as they outscored Kimball 20-12 to knot the score at 41-41 to start the fourth period of play. Kimball's turn once again as they prevailed 14-6 in the final stanza to win out 55-47.

Three players in double figures for the Horns with Mike Daum high with 17 almost 10 points below his season average, but the big guy got his double-double with 13 rebounds, along with 2 steals and 2 assists. Jake Reader had 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 5 assists, and 1 blocked shot. Michael Ferguson was on the receiving end of most of those assists from Reader and was going hard to the basket ending up with 13 points and also charted 3 assists. Colton Stull wound up with 6 points,4 rebounds and 3 assists. Henry Heeg had 4 points and Jonathon Withrow 2 points plus 5 rebounds.

In team stats Kimball was 7/11 at the line, 24/63 from the field and 0/11 from 3 point range, had 28 rebounds with 11 offensive, 7 steals, 13 assists, 1 block, 13 fouls, and only 6 turnovers.

Mitchell was 9/12 at the line, 18/51 from the field and 2/15 on 3 point attempts, had 30 rebounds, and 14 fouls. Bo McVay led the Tigers with 11 points, Jamie Fegler had 10, Zach Pieper 8, Adam Schlotthauer 7, Antonio Barrios 4, Nacho Rocha 3, Alex Morales 2, and Nick Harriger 2.

Kimball 10 19 12 14 -- 55

Mitchell 15 06 20 06 -- 47

A big night for Jake Reader in the win over Pine Bluffs as the senior tallied 28 points to take game scoring honors.

He was 14/19 at the foul line and had 14 points from the field. He was also top rebounder with 9, had a block and 2 steals.

Mike Daum had some early foul trouble and had to sit for a while but still ended up with 22 getting 18 in the second half alone including a pair of treys in the third period. Daum also had 6 rebounds, 1 block, 3 steals and 3 assists. Michael Ferguson ended up with 16 points shooting 67% on the night, had 5 rebounds 2 steals and 2 assists. colton stull with 6 points and 3 rebounds, Jon Withrow 4 points and 3 steals, Trent Rutledge 2 points. Henry Heeg had 4 rebounds.

In team stats, Kimball spent a lot of time at the foul line going 26/35 for 74%, were 25/53 from the field going 2/9 on 3 point attempts, tempts, had 29 rebounds with 8 offensive, 2 blocks, 10 steals, and 9 assists, 9 turnovers and 14 fouls.

The Hornets were led by freshman standout Hunter Thompson with 19, T. Werner 18, K. Jeffries 4, H. DelaCruz 4, M. Reyes 3, N. Bymer 3, s. Gross 2, and K. steger 1. Pine was 5/8 from the line, had 23 fouls, and had 7 3 point field goals with Werner hitting for 6.

Kimball 21 17 18 22 -- 78

Pine 15 16 7 16 -- 54

Red hot shooting by the Bulldogs on their home court led to a win as they came out strong and never let up in running past the Horns to avenge the earlier loss at Kimball. The Dogs jumped out to a 21-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, Kimball came back to close to 31-27 at half time,but

Bridgeport forged ahead more in the third and fourth periods for the win.

Daum with another explosive night finishing with 39 points, just 2 off his twice achieved school record of 41 this season.

He had 6 treys and was 9/10 at the foul line, pulled 13 rebounds, and had 3 steals. Reader fouled out ending up with 9 points and was 7/8 at the line, had 5 rebounds, 3 blocked shots.

Stull had 6 points, Ferguson 2, and Withrow 1.

The Horns shot 34% from the field making 17/50 including 6/18 from 3 point range for 33%, were solid at the foul line at 17/22 for 77%, had 23 rebounds with 9 offensive, 3 blocks, 5 steals, and 4 assists, 13 turnovers and 16 fouls.

A great team effort by Bridgeport with 6 in the scoring columns and 4 in double figures. Baxter had 19, Amaties 16, DeCora 16, Gonzales 12, Pankowski 9, and Pappas 2. The Dogs were 10/13 at the line, had 19 fouls, and converted 8 treys.

Bridgeport is the #1 seed in this week's WTC tournament play and has a first round bye. They are in the upper bracket along with Bayard and Mitchell while Kimball is in the bottom bracket meaning a possible meeting once again in the championship game. Kimball is the #3 seed and will host #6 Gordon/Rushville in the early game at 5:30 tonight (Thursday) at the Kimball High gymnasium to be followed by the Kimball-Bayard girls game.