Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

Horns Sub-District Champs, edge past Bridgeport

The Kimball High boys emerged champions of the C2-12 sub-district basketball tournament and advanced on to the District playoff, but it was a battle to behold before they pulled it out over Bridgeport 51-49 on a last second shot.

The Horns went into sub-district with the #1 seed and won out over Bayard 53-41 in the semi final game after Bayard defeated Perkins County 45-33. The Tigers came out ready to play as they out rebounded and out shot Kimball in the opening period hitting 3 treys enroute to a 13-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. Kimball started their come back in the second period as Jake Reader fed Henry Heeg inside for a basket, Jonathon Withrow hit a 16 footer to tie it at 13-all, then Mike Daum scored 4 straight field goals and at half time Kimball was up 25-19.

It was a very physical contest as Bayard applied lots of contact pressure, especially on Daum and Reader, and both Daum and Reader along with Withrow all had 3 fouls in the third period; and Reader and Daum both ended up with 4 fouls. A big game again for Big Mike as he dominated the boards with 20 rebounds including 9 offensive and got a lot of his scoring on put-back rebounds. He ended up with 23 points to take game high scoring honors, had 3 blocks, 2 assists and a steal. Reader ended up with 11 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks, and an assist. Withrow tallied 6 points and had 3 steals, Michael Ferguson 4 points with 3 rebounds, Colton Stull 4 points with 5 rebounds and 3 assists, Henry Heeg 3, and Trent Rutledge 2.

Not a good night for the Horns at the foul line as they hit on 19/34 attempts, and nothing from 3 point range as they went 0/4. They ended up 17/46 on 2 point field goals, had 39 rebounds with 14 offensive, 4 steals, 7 assists, 7 blocks, 11 turnovers, and 12 fouls.

Bayard ended up with 28 rebounds, 25 fouls, were 3/5 at the line, 17/64 from the field going 4/17 on 3 pointers. David Schuler was high for the Tigers with 11 points and Justin Baird was next in line with 8 as the Tigers had 9 players score.

Coach Bruce Tjosvold said "I thought both teams played hard and it was a physical contest, but I thought we kept our composure and everyone did what they needed to do to get the win."

Kimball 09 16 14 14 -- 53

Bayard 13 06 09 13 -- 41

The championship game was a classic Kimball-Bridgeport battle that was decided in the very closing seconds with Daum getting the winning basket on a rebound put-back with the clock showing 2.7 seconds left in regulation. In four meetings between the two teams this season, Kimball won out three times, this being the all important win. Fans were treated to a great High School basketball game and it was one of those games where you hate to see anyone lose. The atmosphere was awesome with the gymnasium at Sidney packed, and students and fans from both schools displayed excellent sportsmanship, as did the players and coaches of both clubs. The skills on the court were on display.

Bridgeport opened the scoring with a trey by Jason Amateis, but Kimball connected on 3 treys of their own in the opening period as Daum, Heeg, and Stull all nailed one from beyond the arc and Kimball had 4 players get into the scoring act in the first period alone as they took a lead of 16-10 after the first 8 minute segment.

To open the second period, Colton Stull made a great move to finish out a drive and was fouled as well and converted the old style 3 point play. Stull may have turned in a career best performance on the night, and trust me, this win was a complete team victory as Stull, Heeg, Withrow, and Ferguson all made key plays, and Daum and Reader came through like usual, but in a game like this one, every single play, on defense as well as offense, means victory, or loss! Stull had a 6 point second period and Daum 10 points to boost Kimball's lead to 29-18 at half time.

The second half belonged to Bridgeport as they outscored the Horns 31-22, but they came up just one basket shy. Kimball missed some break-away layins in the third period, but Bridgeport was missing some key opportunities as well. After 3 quarters of play, Kimball was on top 36-30 and the Horns were out scored 12-7 in that third period.

After the Bulldogs closed to 36-32 to open fourth quarter play Daum hit his second trey of the game and then it was Fergie time as Michael Ferguson went to the line and made both free throws, then scored on a hard drive to the basket, and then put in another base line bucket to put Kimball up 45-38. Quentin Baxter's 3 pointer with 3:21 to play closed the margin to 45-43, and Wyatt Pankowski tied the game at 45 all with his inside basket with 2:51 to play. Jake Reader drove the lane to give Kimball back the lead, but Pankowski tied it again with his base line basket and the score board read 47-47 with 1:34 remaining. Jon Withrow made the next big play for the Horns with a steal and layin with 1:22 left, but Jaime Gonzales tied it once again with his 15 footer leaving it at 49-49 with 1:06 showing.

Credit Coach Tjosvold with the next big play as he took time with 40.9 seconds left and Kimball with the ball in their front court. They worked the ball around out front running time until Jake Reader worked his way in to about a 14 footer and took a shot that missed but came off the front of the rim where Daum was waiting to put it back in for the win. The clock showed 2.7 seconds but the officials directed the score table to put 3.6 seconds back on time remaining. Bridgeport inbounded, got it to their front court and called time with 1.8 seconds left. Credit the Kimball coaching staff for the next big play as they had Reader foul as soon as the ball was inbounded and before the Dogs could attempt a shot. At this point in the game, Kimball had only 2 team fouls before Reader committed number 3. No one was going to shoot free throws. On the next, and final inbound, with the clock showing 0.7, somehow Bridgeport was able to throw up a shot that was well short and off target and the Kimball side of the gymnasium exploded in a salute to their team's victory.

"Us coaches debated whether to have Mike (Daum) or Jake (Reader) take that last shot, but we felt Mike would have the best chance for the rebound and put back," said Tjosvold. "At the very end we knew we had fouls to give and we didn't want them getting off a shot, but we also didn't want a foul which would send them to the line with a chance to tie or win." Tjosvold said.

A great team effort by Kimball and Bridgeport. Only 6 Kimball players saw playing time and all 6 contributed big time. Bridgeport also had only 6 players score. The Horns had only 11 turnovers, but it seemed like each and every one was costly. Same applied on defense, however, as each and every steal or rebound, helped to save the win.

Another big night for Big Mike Daum as he led all scoring with 19 and he worked hard for every point. Daum was 7/13 from the field and 3/5 at the line. He was 2/5 on treys and 5/8 on 2 point fielders. He pulled 17 rebounds, and had 3 blocks. Reader with 11 points along with 2 rebounds, a steal, an assist and a block. Stull with 8 points, Ferguson with 6, Withrow with 4, and Heeg with 3, and each and every player can lay claim to making a play that won the game.

As a team, Kimball was 9/12 at the line, had 7 fouls, 11 turnovers, shot 19/52 from the field going 4/15 on 3 pointers, had 24 rebounds with 6 offensive, 5 steals, 5 assists, and 4 blocks. Bridgeport had 10 fouls, were 2/5 at the line, 21/59 from the field going 5/15 on 3 pointers. Quentin Baxter had 13 points, Wyatt Pankowski 11, Jason Amateis 8, John Pappas 6, Kaleb DeCora 6, and Jaimie Gonzales 5.

Coach Tjosvold said "It was a great high school basketball game between two great high school teams. We are just happy to come away with the win and hope we can get the win over Ravenna land get back to state with this group of kids." Kimball was to face Ravenna in the District playoff in North Platte Monday evening with the winner qualifying for the Class C-2 State Tournament in Lincoln beginning March 13.

Kimball 16 13 07 15 -- 51

Bridgeport 10 08 12 19 -- 49