Wildcats continue improving

Banner County boys battled the Minatare Indians at their second game of the season in Minatare. The Wildcats came home with a 44-55 loss.

Payton Wick led the Wildcats on the board with 27 points. Wick shot 5/7 outside the paint and 3/3 inside for a shooting percentage of 80 percent. He hit one out of six treys and shot 8/13 from the line. He added one offensive and three defensive rebounds.

James Sandberg followed with eight points. He landed two of eight treys, and shot 2/4 from the line. Sandberg added one rebound, three assists and eight steals.

Seth Dvorak added six to the Banner County board with two field goals. Dvorak shot 2/5 from the line. He led in rebounds with one offensive and nine defensive rebounds and was credited with one assist, one steal.

Cole Blanke contributed three points, grabbed one offensive and five defensive rebounds and snatched two steals with just one turnover.

Steven McDonnell failed to score but grabbed two defensive rebounds and one assist. Micah Wicker also failed to score against Minatare but contributed four defensive rebounds and one assist.

“I thought our effort was excellent we are in pretty good condition. We did a great job of forcing turnovers. We also played. We need to improve on our turnovers as we committed 26 of them. I would also like to see us run our offenses more consistently. We also need to improve our off ball awareness on defense,” coach Cole Wyatt said. “As for the upcoming game I would like us to focus on controlling the ball on offense and taking quality shots. We also need to be more consistent on defense.”

Banner Co. 11 11 11 11 – 44

Minatare 14 14 16 11 – 55

The Wildcats traveled to Grover, Colo., on Saturday, Dec. 10 and while the Wildcats earned 46 points, they were beat out by the Pawnee Coyotes with 82 on their board.

Wick again led on the board with 27 points, landing ¾ three-point field goals and 4/9 two-pointers. Wick also shot 10/17 from the line for a 59 percent free throw average against the Coyotes.

Sandberg added 12 points to the board, all from above the key. Dvorak contributed six points, with one trey, one field goal and one free throw.

McDonnell got on the board with one point from the line.

Blanke grabbed three rebounds, Dvorak snatched two, as did McDonnell and Sandberg with Wick and Wicker each grabbing one.

Wick was credited with three assists, Sandberg, two and Blanke, one. Dvorak, Wick and Sandberg each snatched one steal as well.

Turnovers were high, with a total of 29 throughout the fast-paced game, ten from Sandberg and seven from Wick. Wicker lost five, Dvorak three, and McDonnell and Blanke each lost two.

Sandberg and Blanke each racked up five fouls with Wick, McDonnell and Dvorak earning four each.

“I was pleased with our effort during the game. We battled hard. We got into foul trouble early but I thought the kids responded well and kept playing hard,” Wyatt said. “We once again had a high number of turnovers and also we were out rebounded significantly. There are some things we need to work on.”

Banner Co. 46

Pawnee 82

The Wildcats will host the Leyton Warriors on Friday, Dec. 16.