Kimball boys fall

The Kimball High boys suffered losses to Bridgeport and Gordon-Rushville the past weekend in their final tuneup for the SPVA Conference Tournament that takes place this week.

The Longhorns fell to state ranked Bridgeport 66-52 on Friday evening and lost 56-44 to Gordon-Rushville on Saturday.

Bridgeport is big, by any class, with only 3 players less than 6'1" on their 15-member varsity roster, which includes four players at 6'6". Once again, Kimball's smaller lineup played hard and aggressive basketball but found it hard to match up. None the less, they were out rebounded only 34 to 24. The Horns shot the ball reasonably well going 7/8 at the line, 7/28 on 3 point attempts, and 12/34 on 2 point fielders. They also hustled 11 steals, had 9 assists, 19 turnovers, and 13 fouls.

The Horns had 6 players score and 4 hit double figures led by Jordan Greenwood with 12 including 4 treys. The hustling junior guard also had 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists.

Angel Flores had 10 points with a trey, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists. Tyler Magninie had 10 with 2 treys, and Jaden Withrow charted 10 points. Creg Barker finished with 6 points, and Trent Rutledge had 4 plus a team high 9 rebounds.

The Bulldogs were 10/18 at the line, 6/18 on 3 pointers, 19/40 on 2 point attempts, and had 10 fouls. The Dogs had five players in double figures with Quentin Baxter high with 16 including 2 treys by the 6'6" senior. Wyatt Pankowski had 13, Logan Linch 11 with 2 treys, John Pappas 10, and Andrew Nelson 10, Eric Stevens and Isaias Mancias both had 3.

Bridgeport 17 20 21 8 -- 66

Kimball 13 9 14 16 -- 52

The game with Gordon-Rushville pitted two teams of more equal size and two teams with excellent quickness. The big difference was the shooting. The Mustangs' shots were falling and Kimball couldn't get their shots to find net. The winners also won the rebound battle 44 to 32.

Looking at the team stats, the Mustangs were 13/24 at the foul line, had 17 fouls, were 7/25 on 3 point attempts and 11/29 on 2 point field goals. They were led in scoring by 6'0" sophomore Jaren Nelson with 18, 5'9" freshman Dylan Schwarting with 17, 5'9" senior Ryan Schwarting with 11, sophomore Trace Beguin and senior Rhett Conroy with 5 each. The Mustangs have some young talent, but like Kimball, they lack in size.

Kimball got 14 points out of Greenwood along with 8 rebounds and 3 steals. He fouled out with 2:02 remaining. Jaden Withrow had 9 going 4/4 at the line and 1/1 on 3 point shots. Magninie had 7, Rutledge 6, Creg Barker 4 along with a team high 10 rebounds, Flores 3, and Brandon Barker 1.

The Horns had 22 fouls and also lost Creg Barker with 5 fouls with 4:03 left. Only 10 turnovers for a positive, were 11/16 at the line, 12/40 on 2 point field goal attempts, and 3/20 from 3 point range, had 6 steals and 3 assists.

Unlike their effort against the highly touted Bridgeport club, this was not one of Kimball's better nights. The weekend losses leaves Kimball at 5-7 on the season and they were right back against Bridgeport, on the road, Tuesday in first round play of the SPVA Conference Tournament. Win or lose they will play in tournament play at North Platte Community College with time and opponent to be determined by results of first round play.

Gordon-Rushville 16 1 9 20 -- 56

Kimball 6 13 11 14 -- 44