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

Kimball boys win over Mitchell 54-43 in final home game

In the final home court appearance for five senior boys, the Kimball High Longhorns finished the regular season play with a 54-43 win over visiting Mitchell Friday night. In fact, it was a complete sweep as the Kimball junior varsity also won 46-32.

Coach Luke Dea gave all five of his seniors a starting role in their final home court appearance but it was junior Jordan Greenwood that got the Horns rolling when he checked into the lineup and promptly hit a pair of free throws and followed with a pair of 3 pointers for 8 first quarter points helping the Horns to an 18-13 lead after one quarter of play. Trent Rutledge and Angel Flores also nailed treys during this time frame and the Horns led despite being out rebounded 14 to 5.

The Tigers outscored Kimball 14-9 in the second period to tie the score at 27-27 at half time, and then prevailed 7 to 5 in the low scoring third quarter to lead 34-32 after 3 quarters of play.

It was Greenwood sparking the fourth quarter play as he tallied 11 points and Kimball outscored their visitors 22-9 to secure the win for a joyous turnout of Longhorn fans. In fourth quarter play, Greenwood once again started it with a pair of free throws, then scored in the lane, Tyler Magninie hit a trey and a free throw, and the Horns took control.

Not a good night shooting wise as Kimball was only 10/21 from the foul line although Greenwood was 6/6. From the field the Horns were 8/30 on 3 point attempts and 10/21 on 2 pointers. They had 14 fouls, 18 turnovers, 12 steals, 9 assists and 2 blocked shots. After the first quarter they got busy on the boards ending up with 20 offensive and 14 defensive for 34 rebounds total.

Greenwood led Kimball scoring with 21 including 3 treys, had 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists. Magninie had 8 points with 1 trey. Creg Barker had 7 points and a team leading 10 rebounds drawing praise from coach Dea for his efforts on the boards. Jaden Withrow had 7 points with 1 trey, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 assist and 1 block for a busy night. Angel Flores had 6 points with 2 treys, 3 rebounds, 4 steals, and 2 assists. Trent Rutledge had 5 points with 1 trey, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block and also had a busy night.

Mitchell finished with 36 rebounds, 16 fouls, was 13/17 at the line, 0/6 on 3 point tries and 15/35 on 2 point field goals. Cleveland Burnett led Mitchell with 14 points, Colby Eberspecher had 11, Jaden Snyder 9, Joe Pieper 5, and Seth Marcoe 4.

In three meetings between Kimball and Mitchell this season, Kimball won two. Coach Luke Dea said "It was nice to beat them on our home court in front of our home fans, and it was nice for our seniors to get the win in their final home court appearance. We have been a bit frustrated at playing well on our home court, but this time we kept our composure and rebounded well. Creg (Barker) had a good game on the boards."

The Horns were to take their 7-13 record into the Sub-district tournament play at Alliance this past Tuesday where they were the number three seed facing number two seed Chadron. Gordon-Rushville was the number one seed playing number four seed Mitchell in the other first round pairing. The winners will meet this evening, (Thursday) back at Alliance at 7 p.m.

Kimball had only 3 players score in the 46-32 junior varsity win over Mitchell with Brandon Barker exploding for 26 points scoring 17 in the 4th quarter. Izaak Reuter poured in 17 and Ryan Soper had 3. No one in double figures for the Mitchell JV.

Kimball 18 8 5 22---54

Mitchell 13 14 7 9---43