Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Mike Daum drives down the court in the Longhorns' fall to Scottsbluff.
In a pre-season, exhibition basketball game Monday night on the Kimball court, the Class B Scottsbluff boys won over Kimball 53-41. The contest,where the gate receipts are turned over to the NSAA to be used to fund the Nebraska High School Hall of Fame, attracted a good turnout of fans who wanted to see what both teams are going to have to offer this season, which gets underway this weekend. Coach Tony Siske's club had more depth and more quickness which enabled them to forge ahead late thanks also to some red hot long range shooting.
With seniors Jake Reader and Mike Daum providing all of the scoring, Kimball held their own early with the game tied at 14-14 at the end of the first period of play. With Daum hitting from long range and controlling the boards, the visiting Bearcats were on top 24-21 at half time. Scottsbluff warmed up from beyond the trey circle in the third period and took a lead of 40-29. The two teams battled even in the final quarter for the final tally.
The Bearcats had 10 players in the scoring columns led by Trent Harris with 14 and Jackson Hinze with 8. Dru Kuxhausen and Austin Clarkson had 6 each, Eseah Ingram 5, Matthew Mickey 5, Jonah Wright and Dillon Hernandez 3 each, Ty Benson 2, and Beau Lofink 1. The winners were 14 of 34 from 2 point range and 8 of 20 from 3 point land along with 1 for 2 at the foul line. They pulled 30 rebounds compared to 32 for the Longhorns.
Kimball was 8 of 35 on 2 pointers (22%), 5 of 16 on three point shots (31%), and 10 of 19 at the foul line (52%). They pulled offensive rebounds and 21 defensive boards, had 7 steals 7 assists and 2 blocked shots. Only four players in the scoring columns for Kimball led by 6'9" senior Mike Daum with 25 who was 3/11 inside and 5/16 on three pointers along with a perfect 4/4 at the foul line. He had no trouble acquiring his first double-double as he hauled down 18 rebounds, had 3 steals and 2 blocks. Jake Reader was in double figure scoring with 11 but also had a rough night shooting going 3/16 from the field and 5/12 at the line. He charted 7 rebounds and 4 assists. Michael Ferguson had 4 points hitting both of his attempts and Colton Stull had 1 point.
Coach Bruce Tjosvold was not happy with his team's shooting, but was fairly pleased other wise. "I was fairly pleased with our play against a good ball club. We played pretty well, especially on defense. On offense we did a lot of good things. We didn't have too many turnovers (16), and we need to work on getting the rest of our guys to contribute some scoring. We will work on that this week and try to be ready this weekend when we start the real season."
Kimball's starting lineup for the Hall of Fame game included seniors Daum and Reader, along with juniors Stull and Ferguson and sophomore Angel Flores at the point.