Longhorns top Perkins County, lose at Morrill

A split weekend for the Kimball boys as they won over Perkins County at home Friday night 61-52, but suffered their first loss of the season at Morrill Saturday 64-55.

Like they will most every game, the Horns were up against a lot of size Friday night as Perkins County put a tall starting five on the court including 6'8" senior Zak Kurkowski, but to their credit they held their own on the boards for the most part with 31 rebounds to 35 for the visitors. The game was close early with Perkins County out front 15-13 at the quarter break and led 11-4 before Colton Stull hit a trey and Tyler Magninie hit two treys to close the gap. The team from Grant increased their first half lead to 32-25 by intermission.

Jordan Greenwood and Jaden Withrow came off the bench to do good things for Kimball in the second period and the Horns had only 3 turnovers at half time, but at this point they had been out rebounded 21 to 14. Kimball's defense went to work in the third period as

Kimball out scored the Plainsmen 13-5 to take a 1 point lead into the fourth period, leading 38-37. Angel Flores, Colton Stull, and Jaden Withrow had all hit treys during this time frame.

Michael Ferguson scored all of his points in the fourth quarter as he rang the bell for 8 points and the Horns outscored the visitors 23-15 in the final quarter to secure the win.

Coach Luke Dea said, "The second half against Perkins County was our best half of basketball this year. They had a lot of size on us but the kids executed our game plan and we rebounded right with them by doing so and positioning ourselves. We made a lot of shots and it helps when the shots are falling. With only 5 turnovers for the game it gave us a lot of possessions which in turn gave us chances to score. A lot of our kids hit shots and it was a complete good team effort."

Good balanced scoring for Kimball with Colton Stull and Tyler Magninie both with 11 points. stull hit 3 of 6 3 point attempts and Magninie 3 of 5. Stull also had 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Ferguson had 8 points along with 9 rebounds. Jaden Withrow had 8 points and was 2/3 on treys. Greenwood had 7 with a trey, Trent Rutledge 7 along with 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Angel Flores 7 points with a trey, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, and Ethan Land had 2.

As a team, Kimball was 11/17 at the foul line, 20/67 from the field going 10/29 on 3 point tries, had 11 offensive and 20 defensive rebounds, 9 steals, 1 blocked shot, 16 assists, and only 8 fouls and only 5 turnovers.

Perkins County had 35 rebounds, 17 fouls, were 3/6 at the line 17/36 on 2 point FG and 5/19 on 3 point FG shots. Josh Johnston, a freshman, led the plainsmen with 16 points, Charles Johnson, a freshman, had 11, Christian White 11, Kurkowski 7, Bailey Schrotbarger 5, and Tyson Patrick 2.

Score by quarter

Kimball 13 12 13 23 - 61

Perkins 15 17 5 15 - 52

The game at Morrill was tight and tough into the fourth period before it got away from the Horns. Kimball led 15-13 at the quarter break as Tyler Magninie hit 3 straight baskets to put the Horns on top. Colton Stull had picked up 2 quick fouls and had early bench time. Trent Rutledge scored 7 1st quarter points. The Lions outs cored Kimball 20-16 in the second period to take a 33-31 half time lead and Magninie continued to carry the load for Kimball scoring 17 first half points. Kimball won the third quarter scoring battle 15-11 to forge back to a 46-44 lead entering the fourth quarter of play.

Ryan McMackin, a tall and sharp shooting junior, came out firing in the fourth period hitting 3 treys as Morrill out scored the Horns 11-1 to open fourth period play. The final 4 minutes were spent at the foul line and stull hit all 3 after he was fouled shooting a trey to close to 58-53, but that was as close as Kimball would get before the final horn. In that final quarter, the Horns hit 1 of 14 from the field and the home club hit some amazing shots through out the contest.

Magninie led Kimball with 21 points, was 8/14 from the field, 3/6 on 3 point shots, and 2/3 at the line. Ferguson ended up with 10 points and a double-double with 11 rebounds and also had 8 steals, close to a triple double! Stull had 9 points with 4 assists. Rutledge 9 points going 4/4 at the line. Enrique Cajero had 4 points with 4 rebounds and 2 steals, and Flores had 2 points with 3 steals and 4 assists.

In team stats, Kimball had 20 turnovers and 16 fouls, above the usual. They also were 14/23 at the line, 13/39 on 2 point field goals, 5/21 on 3 pointers, had 14 offensive and 14 defensive rebounds, 16 steals and 10 assists.

Morrill had 15 fouls, 22 rebounds, were 13/23 at the line, 12/27 on 2 point field goals, and 9/18 on 3 pointers. McMackin led all scorers with 26 including 4 treys, Jorge Lara had 22 with 4 treys, Victor Valles 10, Josh Harvey 4, and Zech Larson 3.

Coach Dea commenting on the loss said, "We had too many turnovers, especially in the fourth quarter. We lacked composure also in the fourth quarter and up til tonight we have been solid in this department, but this time it went the other way. I thought we played pretty good defense, but they shot the ball well. It hurt us when Colton got in foul trouble." As to singling out anyone, he credited Magninie with shooting the ball well and Ferguson for his rebounding and steals.

More big guys to face this weekend as both Hershey on Friday and Bayard on Saturday will bring some big players to town. Coach Dea feels the Horns can compete with both opponents.

"I feel they are both winnable games for us. We need to shoot well and score more off transition. We are going to work on that this week in practice. We hope to get a couple of wins this weekend and this would make the kids feel good going into the break."

Game times this weekend for the boys are 3:30 and 2 for the JV games and 6:30 and 5 for the boys varsity following the girls varsity games.

Score by quarter

Kimball 15 16 15 9 - 55

Morrill 13 20 11 20 - 64