Lusche 7th On 'Most Points Scored In 1 Game' List

Kimball 57,

Banner County 34

JAN 27

First game back from the SPVA conference tournament where the boys played well we were looking to continue that momentum going into our 3 game stretch this week. Banner County was our first opponent on Thursday and even though they have some size, they are a young team like ours and looking to continue to grow their program.

The first quarter saw us trying to put pressure in the full court to capitalize on steals and turnovers for quick transition points. However, even though we accomplished what we had set out to do and took an 18-4 lead, it came at a cost by getting some of our players into early foul trouble. In the second quarter we had already backed out of the press, and with Banner County feeling more comfortable getting into their half court sets, they were able to methodically move the ball on us and take advantage of our missed assignments. We gave up 16 in the second quarter so at half time we made a few adjustments and were then able to hold our opponents to only 2 points in the third taking a 46-22 lead into the fourth. From there, and it was looking like we might come away with our second win of the season, I think we may have let our guard down and let some complacency creep in. We haven't had much experience leading a game into the fourth quarter so it was definitely a good learning experience for our young team on clock management and end game situations.

Banner was a good team for us as we are both similar in youth and size. Our boys played hard the whole game and we were glad to come away with the win knowing that another task of beating a familiar opponent for the second time would be right around the corner and not be easy.

Fortunately for us Kyler Lusche was on his game this night slashing to the basket for offensive put backs and doing it all on the offensive end. He ended the night with 33 points which now puts him tied for 7th all-time on the Longhorn boys basketball "Most Points Scored in One Game" record list. In addition to his 33 points he also grabbed 16 total rebounds, had 7 steals, 5 blocks, 1 assist, and 8 deflections.

Behind Kyler's 33 points was Anthony Tovar with 9, Wyatt Cords 8, and Kyle Fraser 7. Other stats saw Wyatt with 11 Rebounds and a team leading 4 Assists. Connor Deboodt: 7 REB, 3 AST, 3 STL Anthony Tovar: 6 REB, 3 BLK, 2 STL Kyle Fraser: 1 AST, 1 STL Bransyn Kiefer: 7 DEFL, 2 STL, 1 AST Braylon Miller: 2 OREB, 1 CHG Landon Norberg: 1 OREB, 1 STL, 1 AST.

Team Categories we were able to outperform our opponent were in 2FG% (+24%),FT% (+26.5%) OReb (+7), POT's (+24), AST (+3), STL (+11), DEFL (+18), and BLK (+10).

Kimball vs. Sutherland Friday 1-28-22 (46-34)

Friday saw us take on Sutherland team for the second time in 7 days in front of a very big home crowd. They returned one of their starters and were coming off their first win of the season on Tuesday with some momentum. We knew that beating a well coached team like Sutherland's two times in a short period was not going to be easy and would be a good test for our young team.

We also knew going in that we might have to show them some different looks than the first time when we had met so we decided to try and match up with them defensively. Our players seemed more focused and ready for the challenge that we put forth to them than I have ever seen. Our defense was holding them at bay so when they called a timeout to make adjustments, we would just slip into a different defense altogether. They are a team the relies heavily on the 3 point shot and whether or not our switching defenses played a big facture or not, we were able to hold them to no 3 pointers on 0 for 12 attempts.

The 1st quarter was kind of tight, back and forth but Kyler Lusche made a great move on a last second fast break giving us some breathing room and an 11-7 lead going into the second. Once the second quarter started it then was a continued defensive battle as neither teamed scored for the first 2:30 of the quarter. However, we were able to take advantage of our inside presence on the next 3 possessions and on our fourth possession Bransyn Kiefer hit a big 3 that put us up 20-11. Anthony Tovar went to the line and knocked down 2 free throws on the fifth consecutive possession and that is where our scoring would end for the first half taking a 22-13 lead into the locker room. In the beginning of the third quarter we came out scoring on our first three possessions behind Kyle Frasers 2 free throws and 3 pointer and going inside to Anthony on the third consecutive possession to open up the score to 29-15. Unfortunately after that red hot start to the third quarter we started turning the ball over more giving Sutherland some life but our defense continued to stand tall. Kyle Fraser was able to make a good move and finish at the rim in the final seconds of the quarter giving us a 33-19 lead heading into the final period. The fourth quarter opened up with Sutherland put more pressure on us in the backcourt and us giving the ball back to them on too many turnovers. It felt like they had the momentum until Kyler reverse spun away from his defender on a pass from Kyle on the left wing and set his feet to knock down a 3 pointer putting us up 40-26. Anthony's four consecutive free throws put us up 18 with under three minutes to go and were able to continue that lead until just under 2 minutes left. From there our inexperience leading games in the final minutes began to creep in as our focus and composure began waning. Arguing calls, taking quick shots, fouling good free throw shooters, and turning the ball over too many times was defiantly not how we would have liked to end the game. So getting an open fast break in the final 30 seconds from Kyler to Wyatt to Kyle along with a rebound from Braylon and a steal from Bransyn in the final defensive possessions we were able to finish with a little of that momentum we had lost and complete the game with a 46-34 hard fought victory!!

Anthony Tovar came though big for us in the post and on the line scoring 18 for the game and was a perfect 6 for 6 from the charity stripe. He also brought down 11 rebounds along with Kyler Lusche. Anthony was consistent throughout scoring 2 field goals in each of the first 3 quarters. This along with Kyle Fraser's quick start and seven points in the 3rd quarter definitely helped us keep Sutherland at bay and increase our confidence that we could finish off our opponent for the second time in seven days.

Scoring is as follows: Wyatt Cords 5, Kyler Lusche 9, Kyle Fraser 11, Brasyn Kiefer 3, and Anthony Tovar 18. Other stats include Wyatt Cords: 3 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL Kyler Lusche: 11 REB, 4 AST, 2 STL Kyle Fraser: 1 AST Bransyn Kiefer: 5 REB, 2 AST, 2 STL Connor Deboodt: 3 DREB, 1 STL Braylon Miller: 1 DREB, 1 STL Anthony Tovar: 11 REB, 2 AST, 1 STL, 2 BLK.

Team Categories we were able to outperform our opponent were in FG% (+14%),FT% 72.7 (+10%), 3PT% (+30.8%) REB (+8), AST (+5), BLK (+4).

We appreciated all the support from our home crowd the past two nights. Due to elementary half time activities and mini cheer leaders we had a lot of home support in the crowd and it was awesome for our players to feel that energy from a very big home crowd. Hope to see you all there to support our young athletes again very soon.

Kimball vs. North Platte St. Pats 1-29-22 (12-60)

Taking on the #1 D-1 school per the NSAA point system rankings after two big nights we knew that we would need to be at our best. St. Pats is a well coached team that has numerous athletes that know their rolls and compete hard. Their execution of plays and discipline they show on defense make it hard for any school to get good looks or second opportunities to score in the possession. They showed a week earlier why they are the top team in our SPVA conference and eventually we would like to get to where they are at fundamentally.

Our first possession definitely looked promising as we had the ball for not just one good looking attempt at the basket but we were also fortunate enough to get an offensive rebound and get another good look. Our first possession was a good possession moving the ball from left to right and getting 2 good shots off while running 40 seconds off the clock. This is a pace we would take playing such an explosive team. On our second possession however, they started playing us further out and putting more pressure on our perimeter players. This created tough passes and we were not very well prepared to match their quickness to the ball. Our next possessions in the quarter either ended in quick shots or turnovers. They were able to push the ball to the other end of the court without much resistance from us and would score quickly in transition thus getting out to a 25-0 start. It was not until the second quarter that we were able to break in the scoring column with a good out of bounds play that had Wyatt Cords throwing a great pass to Kyler for 3. We were then able to capitalize again on a miscue and a great over the back save from Kyle Fraser that ended up into the hands of Kyler whom then whipped it over the Bransyn for a bank in 3. This second quarter was filled with long possessions on each end resulting in a St.Pats 10 Longhorns 6 in the quarter and putting us behind 35-6 at the half. In the third quarter we tried to get a little more movement on the perimeter and claw back with some outside shooting, however, it was just not a good shooting night for us all around. Wyatt was able to capitalize on a mid-range jumper and Kyler had a offensive rebound and putback for our only 2 scores in the third. The Irish was able to extend the lead to 40 by the end of the quarter so the fourth was then a quick quarter in which each team only possessed the ball 7 times. Bransyn Kiefer scored on a nice baseline jumper in our last possession for our only score of the final quarter and the game ended 60-12.

Scoring is as follows: Wyatt Cords 2, Kyler Lusche 5, and Brasyn Kiefer 5. Other stats include Wyatt Cords: 2 REB, 1 AST Kyler Lusche: 5 REB, 1 AST Kyle Fraser: 1 OREB Bransyn Kiefer: 1 DREB Landon Norberg: 1 DREB Anthony Tovar: 2 REB, 1 STL, 3 BLK.

Even though St. Pats is a good team we know we could have played better. We will go back to the drawing board on Monday to discuss how we can learn from playing such an athletic and disciplined team. We hope to have another good week of practices leading up to our WTC tournament matchup with Bayard on Thursday. They are playing well as of late and we look forward to getting back out on the court to give them all we have once again.