Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Kimball 6-3 Going Into Mid-January After 2-1 Stretch To Open 2024
When the Banner County Wildcats came to K-town on Jan. 5, so did many of their fans to see the two improving basektball programs compete.
The Longhorns boys basketball team went 2-1 in its first three games after Christmas break, improving to 6-3 on the season.
Next up going into this week was a trip to backyard rival Potter-Dix on Tuesday, Jan. 9, a JV game with visiting Pine Bluffs on Jan. 11, then games against visiting Bridgeport on Jan. 12 and visiting Gordon-Rushville on Jan. 13.
Here's a recap of Kimball's wins over South Platte on Jan. 2 and Banner County on Jan. 5 and the loss to Chase County on Jan. 6
Kimball 84,
South Platte 63
Tuesday's game at South Platte was a high scoring affair in which we were able to pull away in the 3rd quarter after shooting over 79% from the field. In that quarter we were able to get better ball movement and take advantage of their zone defense more effectively.
Highlights included Brandon Paxton and Braxton Miller's Double-Doubles along with Kyler Lusche's 32 points, after going scoreless in the 1st quarter. Brandon added another 29 points while racking up a dominating 19 rebounds (tied for 3rd all-time) and 7 blocks, just 3 blocks away from a Triple-Double. Braxton ended up with 13 points, going 3/5 from downtown, added a staggering 12 assists (tied for 2nd all-time), and lead us with a 2.81 VPS rating.
Kyler went on to shoot 13/17 from the field while shooting 80% from the line for his 32 total points and led us with 5 steals on defense. Ryker Behrend added 5 pts, Wyatt Cords 3 pts, and Trevor Fuss added 2 pts to round out the scoring for the night.
As a team, we were able to put up a season high of 84 points while going 12/16 from the line. Proud of all of our players for a great night of basketball!
Junior varsity: In a 39-34 loss, three players led the Kimball JV with 7 points each: Matias Sokac, Trey Cook, and Landon Nunley. Landon Norberg added 5 pts, Kaymen Lusche 4 pts, and Greg Bingham 4pts for our total of 34 for the game.
Kimball 79,
Banner County 23
It was good to be back in front of our home crowd for our Friday contest versus Banner County. We came out struggling though as we only shot 24% in the 1st quarter and were having a difficult time knocking down shots. Fortunately, however, we were able to string together 21 rebounds in that quarter alone to give us our fair share of attempts at the basket and end up with 16 total points going into the second quarter.
In the second quarter our efficiency went way up as were able to hit 6 from beyond the arc as well as 7 from inside the paint while going 4/5 from the line for a total of 36 in the 2nd quarter alone. This put us up 52-11 at the half, giving us an opportunity to go deeper into our bench in the second half.
Highlights included Trevor Fuss's very efficient evenin,g leading us with 7 assists, an eFG% of 83.3%, and a very high 5.83 VPS rating on the night. Trevor also added 10 pts, 5 reb, and & 3 stl while committing 0 turnovers.
Kyler Lusche once again led us in points with 13, grabbed 7 rebounds, and added 4 ast and 3 blk. Brandon Paxton also scored in double digits with 11, pulled 7 reb, led us with 4 stl, and added 2 blk. Braxton Miller led us in rebounding with 7 offensive and 9 total. He also added 6 ast, 2 stl, had a VPS rating of 1.89, and hit 3 shots from behind the arc for all 9 of his points.
Ryker Behrend scored 9 as well as 3 reb, 2 stl, and a VPS rating of 2.22. Bransyn Kiefer put two in from deep for his 6 points while adding 2 reb and 1 stl. Wyatt Cords added 5 pts, 3 reb, 1 ast and 1blk. Landon Norberg had 5pts, 1reb and 1stl. Greg Bingham finished out the scoring with 2pts, 4reb and 1stl. Kaymen Lusche had 2ast and 1 stl. Matias Sokac added 1 reb and 1 blk.
It was great to play in front of our home crowd for the first time in 2024, as well as see many fans show up from our neighbors to the north. Banner County played hard on defense and we only wish the best for Coach Revelle and his program moving forward.
Chase County 44,
Kimball 33
The game with Chase Co. was a tale of two halves. In the first half we had troubles getting anything going and missed too many shots that we normally knock in.
Down by 21 at the half we just tried to refocus and tried running a different defense. The defense set us up for a chance to make a comeback as we only allowed 12 pts in the second half. However, in the end we just could not get a few shots to fall to make the comeback complete.
After cutting the lead down to 6, we had to start thinking about fouling with 0 team fouls in the quarter and a little under 2 minutes to go.
Our team battled hard to make a game of it and hopefully this brings us some confidence that we can play with tough teams, no matter how far back we may fall behind in the beginning.
Highlights included Brandon Paxton's 14 pts, 8 reb, 4 stl, 4 blk and a VPS rating of 1.36. Kyler Lusche had 5 pts, 6 reb, and 3 blk. Ryker had Behrend 5 pts, 2 ast, 2 stl. Braxton Miller had 3 pts, 6 reb, and3 ast. Trevor Fuss, Wyatt Cords, and Bransyn Kiefer finished out the scoring with 2 pts apiece.
Junior varsity: After a tight 3 quarters and a score of 32-36 going into the 4th, Chase Co was able to pull away in the final quarter for a 58-32 victory.
Greg Bingham led the team with 14pts. Landon Nunley added 7 pts. Matias Sokac, Landon Norberg, and Luke Berger each hit a 3 pointer for 3 pts each, while Trey Cook finished out the scoring with 2 pts.