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

Kimball boys 3-3 at holiday break

A split weekend for the Kimball High boys with a loss at Hershey and a win at Bayard leaving them at 3-3 going into the Holiday break. The Horns were up against some large and stocky young men at Hershey and had a hard time competing on the boards resulting in a 69-52 loss to the Panthers, but came back strong Saturday at Bayard to secure their third win of the season

with a final score board reading of 54-41.

Coach Dustin Jorgenson’s Hershey boys were 0-4 coming into the Kimball game but he said “We could easily be 4-0. We lost some close games.”

The scouting report showed the Panthers with some large, stocky inside players, and the scouting report did not lie! They had a couple that looked like NFL offensive linemen. Hershey won the rebounding stats 42 to 20 over our Kimball boys.

Coach Luke Dea got his usual good effort from his shorter crew and the Horns held a 15-14 first quarter lead and were down only 27-24 at half time. Hershey’s size and red hot shooting proved to be the difference in the second half.

Tyler Magninie started out strong for the Horns and had 12 of his team high 17 points by intermission. He ended up with 3 treys and was 2/2 at the line. Good balanced scoring for Kimball with 7 players getting into the scoring columns with Brandon Barker coming off the bench to score 8. Jordan Greenwood 7 with a trey and 4/5 free throw shooting. Jaden Withrow had 7. Angel Flores 6 with 3/3 foul shooting. Creg Barker 5. Trent Rutledge 2 and a team high 5 rebounds.

In team stats, Kimball had 13 fouls, 19 turnovers, 4 offensive and 16 defensive rebounds; 9 steals, 7 assists, 1 blocked shot, were 17/23 at the foul line, 10/31 on 2 point field goal attempts and 5/23 on 3 point tries.

Hershey had 42 rebounds, were 5/18 at the line, 23/55 on 2 point fielders, 6/15 on 3 pointers. Jason Davis, 6’3” junior with size and ability, led the winners with 23 points. Baylor Hellmuth, 6’4” junior had 14, and Tyler Johnson, 6’0” sophomore guard hit 4 treys and ended with 14.

Kimball 15 9 15 13 -- 52

Hershey 14 13 21 21 -- 69

Kimball got out to an 11-9 first quarter lead at Bayard with Jordan Greenwood scoring the first 9 points for the Horns. Creg Barker came off the bench to give the Horns an additional push and Kimball led 23-18 at half time. The Horns scored the first 9 points of the second half and took control to secure the win.

Good night for Greenwood as the junior had a game high 21 points getting his points on strong drives to the basket. He also had 5 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 assists. Creg Barker ended up with 13 points on 6/9 shooting from the field and 1/1 at the line, had 8 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal, and 1 assist. Jaden Withrow had 7 points, Tyler Magninie 6 with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Brandon Barker had 5 points with a trey. Trent Rutledge had 2 points plus 6 steals. Angel Flores charted 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and an assist.

In team stats, Kimball had 16 fouls, only 8 turnovers, 16 steals, 9 assists, 2 blocks, 12 offensive and 11 defensive rebounds.

They were 9/16 at the line, 18/44 on 2 point field goals, and 3/19 on 3 point attempts.

Bayard had 15 fouls, 33 rebounds, were 5/10 at the line, 15/35 on 2 point fielders, and 2/8 on 3 point tries. Three players in double figures for Bayard with Bryce Burry high with 11, Jacob Hoff 10, and Ethan Marker 10.

Coach Luke Dea was happy with the play of his team once again and will remain that way as long as he is getting the all out effort each night from all players. After the Holiday break and with no Christmas Holiday Tournament on the schedule, the Horns will return to the hardwoods on January 7 at Class B Sidney, go to Mitchell the following night on January 8, then are at home January 9 with Chase County.

Kimball 11 12 14 17 -- 54

Bayard 9 9 7 16 -- 41