Longhorns lose at Hershey...win at Bayard

The Kimball High boy's suffered a loss at Hershey on Friday evening, but regrouped in big fashion to win at Bayard on Saturday, leaving their season record even at 3-3 at the Christmas break.

The Longhorns held their own early at Hershey with the score tied at 11-11 at the end of the 1st quarter, but the Panthers broke away in the second period to outscore Kimball 16-6, taking a half-time lead of 27-17 and expanded their margin even more in the second half play to win out 55-30.

No one in double figure scoring for the Horns with Brady Kilgore high with 9 points. Isaac Reuter ended up with 8 with 1 trey, Kole Bush had 6 with 1 trey. Corey Travis 4, Colton Mielke 3 with 1 trey, Zane Anthony 3, Jacob Withrow 2 and Brendan Walker 2.

Another poor night shooting for Kimball as they were 14/52 from the field for 27% going 11/31 on 2 point field goal attempts and 3 for 21 on 3-pointers for 14% and were only 6/13 on free throws for 45%.

Along with leading the scoring, Kilgore was also top rebounder with 6 and Beau Hanks led in steals with 4. In team stats, Kimball had 23 rebounds and 19 steals along with 5 assists and 17 turnovers. Coach Luke Dea said, "We didn't play well at all at Hershey and they (Hershey) are a pretty good ball club. We just need to get our heads into the game and we need to shoot the ball better."

Kimball 11 6 10 10– 30

Hershey 11 16 16 12-55

After having their lowest point total of the young season at Hershey with 30 points, the Horns came back strong on Saturday at Bayard with their most points yet, winning out 73-33. Kimball shot the ball the best they have all season and played like the coaches knew they were capable of. Four players in double scoring for the win with Isaac Reuter leading the charge out of the gate scoring all 16 of his game high total in the first half. He also shared top rebound honors with Beau Hanks as both pulled 8 boards. Hanks finished with 13 points and 1 trey, Kole Bush had 10 with 2 treys, Colton Mielke 10 with 1 trey, Brady Kilgore 9 with 1 trey, Sam Cajero 7 with 1 trey, Corey Travis 3 and Austin Lulf with 1 trey.

Kimball ran out to a 21-7 first quarter lead and were on top 44-14 at half-time. Coach Dea went to his bench early and the backups got lots of court time and showed they could play well when called on. Kimball's sophomore class has some talent and they put it on display. In the fourth quarter, Hanks scored 9 points, including hitting a trey. Cajero hit a trey and tallied 5 and Austin Lulf had 5 second half points with a trey. Freshman, Javon Coyle, played well off the bench.

The team stats showed great improvement in shooting as their field goal percentage went up to 41% and was 39% on treys as they made 7 of 18 attempts. At the line, they shot 10/16 for 63%. Kimball pounded the boards for 42 total, including 22 offensive. They charted 16 steals, 9 assists, 10 turnovers and had 21 fouls.

No one in double figures for the Tigers with Daeton Blanco and Justin Whitebear both netting 7 points to share their team scoring honors.

"Coach Dea was pleased with the play of his team in the win. "We got out and played with some confidence tonight and we shot a lot better. We will have some time off now during the break, then get back to work at practice and hope to keep this going when the second portion of our season resumes," Dea said. With the Christmas break, and the NSAA Moratorium beginning December 23, where all schools take mandatory days off from practice, things reach a standstill for a short while in the winter sports scene for Nebraska high schools. The Horns return to action January 4 at Sidney.

Kimball 21 23 11 18-73

Bayard 7 7 10 9-33