Longhorns edged out by Perkins County in Sub-District final

The Kimball high boys had a good run at winning the C2-12 Sub-District Basketball championship, but came up 4 points shy in the title game with Perkins County. The Horns started out by winning their semi final contest over Bayard 53-45 before falling to Perkins County 56-52 in the championship game. The Kimball boys completed a winning season of 13-10 under the direction of co-head coaches Gene Mohr and Nick Kuxhausen, assisted by Bruce Tjosvold.

Kimball had good fan support both nights of sub-district play held at Sidney with the semi-final game held on a Tuesday, and the title game postponed one day because of weather and held this past Friday night. The first quarter of the Bayard game was one of lots of fouls, and lots of free throw shooting, but the Tigers of Bayard struggled converting only 1 of 9 attempts in that time frame, helping Kimball get out to a 13-9 1st period lead with Ed Barnes, Zane Anthony, and Brandon Barker all hitting treys and Barnes accounting for 6 of those points.

Kimball out scored Bayard 14-9 in the 2nd period to take a 27-18 lead at half time. Kimball had great play off the bench from Kole Bush, Brady Kilgore, and Corey Travis, and Zane Anthony had one of his best performances of the year, especially in the first half play with 7 points while Barnes ran his figure to 8 points and Jaden Withrow had 6.

Bayard sophomore, Payton Oliverious went on a scoring spree in the 3rd period scoring 13 straight points trailing 36-33 at the start of the 4th period. Kimball responded with a run of their own in the final quarter with some outstanding team work and passing. After Bayard tied the game at 36-36, the Horns went on an unanswered 12 point run with layin after layin resulting from good defensive plays and fast breaks with key pass assists that resulted in the layin. Five players scored during this streak with Izaak Reuter hitting a pair of free throws, Colton Mielke scoring from the lane, Barker back-to-back baskets inside, Withrow with a layin and Barnes with another. It was good basketball with the Horns running the offense laid out by their coaches. A strong finish against a young Bayard team that played with a lot of heart.

Good balanced scoring for Kimball led by senior Ed Barnes with 12 including 1 trey. Brandon Barker had 10 with 2 treys, Jaden Withrow 9, Colton Mielke 9 going 7 of 8 at the foul line, Zane Anthony 7 with 1 trey, Brady Kilgore 4, and Izaac Reuter 2. Kimball had 17 field goals including 4 treys, were 15/24 at the foul line, and had 14 fouls.

Oliverius took game scoring honors with 21 points to lead the Tiger cause and was the only Bayard player in double figures. Bayard also had 17 field goals with 3 treys, was 8/16 at the line, and had 20 fouls. Additional stats for either team were not available.

Kimball 13 14 9 17---53

Bayard 9 9 15 11---45

Despite their loss to Perkins County, the Horns may have played their most inspirational game of the season, against Perkins County, displaying a lot of heart and team work as they battled hard for the win. At the start of the season the Kimball roster boasted 6 seniors. For the final game of their season, there were only 2 seniors remaining, along with 5 sophomores and 2 freshmen. Along the way as the season wore down, 3 seniors elected to depart from the team for their own reasons, and on Friday night the Horns were without Barnes, the young man who led the scoring on Tuesday night, due to scholastic eligibility reasons, along with junior Kole Bush. The coaching staff brought up two talented freshman players in Beau Hanks and Brendan Walker, a duo fans will enjoy watching the next three seasons. The two remaining seniors played themselves proud! The Perkins County following had special praise for Withrow and Barker, as did the Kimball coaches.

This was a championship contest played the way championships are supposed to be played. Kimball held a 1 point lead at the end of the 1st quarter with the score board reading 15-14. Izaac Reuter scored 5 points and Withrow tallied the final 6 points of the period for Kimball as the Horns displayed great team work, running their offense and playing aggressive defense. Withrow continued to shine in his final game as a Longhorn and had 11 by half time but the Plainsmen of Grant had taken a 32-24 lead at the half time break.

The Horns came out of the locker room ready to give more great effort and senior Brandon Barker was driving hard to the basket scoring 8 points in the 3rd period and they closed the gap to within 44-38 going into the final period of play.

Sophomore Colton Mielke opened the 4th period driving inside to score. Reuter made it a 3 point game converting an old fashioned 3 point play. Mielke kept it at 3 points needed with his basket inside, and Reuter made it a 1 point margin when he swished a pair of free throws. With 4:15 left in the game Barker tied it up with a free throw at 48-48. With 3:09 to play Mielke gave Kimball the lead at 50-49 with his 15 footer. Perkins County went back in front with 3:04 to play on a pair of free throws, but a Barker hard-drive to the basket gave Kimball back the lead at 52-51. He followed that with another hard drive to the basket and a score only to have a very questionable offensive foul cancel out the basket that would have given the Horns a 3 pint lead. Perkins County came back down court to nail a trey with 1:15 remaining to put them back on top at 54-52. The winners would hit two more free throws in the closing seconds for the final score.

Barker with 15 and Withrow with 14 led the Kimball scoring. The starting five accounted for all of Kimball's scoring with Reuter charting 10, Mielke 9, and Anthony 4. Reuter led in rebounds with 6 and steals with 5. In team states Kimball had 20 field goals including 2 treys, were 10/15 at the line, and had 15 fouls.

Perkins County was led by Joshua Johnston with 15 including 3 treys. Charles Johnson with 11, and Miles Lagler with 10. The plainsmen had 21 field goals with 4 treys, were 10/16 at the line, and had 13 fouls. With the win they advanced to a District playoff with that winner advancing to the state tournament.

Kimball 15 9 14 14---52

Perkins Co. 14 18 12 12---56