Longhorns down Bayard 74-63

In a long awaited make-up game that was postponed from Dec. 17 due to weather, the Kimball High boys won over Bayard Monday night 74-63 in front of the hometown fans. The latest win leaves Kimball at 12-3 on the season heading into this week’s Western Trails Conference Tournament, where they Horns are the number one seed with a first round bye.

The visiting Tigers scored the first two baskets on the night before Jordan Greenwood struck back with a 3 pointer followed by a steal and a layin to go ahead 6-5. Greenwood continued to shine in the opening period, scoring 14 of his game high 21 points, hitting 2 treys and making strong moves to the inside.

Colton Mielke and Izaac Reuter also nailed treys in the 22 point opening period as the Horns surged ahead 22-8 by the quarter’s end.

The second quarter belonged to Jaden Withrow as he took over the scoring act with 10, hitting a 3 pointer right at the buzzer to give Kimball a 42-23 half time margin. Bayard outscored Kimball 19-12 in the third quarter as the Big Red could not get their shots to fall and the Tigers got hot with their shooting. Kimball took a 54-42 lead into the final eight minutes.

Mielke took over the scoring for Kimball in the 4th period, scoring 11 of Kimball’s 20 points and the Horns held on for the win with the bench finishing it out.

Three players in double figure scoring for Kimball, led by Greenwood with 21 including 2 treys and 5/7 foul shooting, but his shooting cooled off after the opening period. Withrow ended with 19 points with 1 trey and led the team in steals with 6 and assists with 3. Mielke had 15 points with 2 treys and 3 for 3 foul shooting. Brandon Barker went 3/4 at the line and had 1 trey, scoring 8 points. Reuter went 3/4 at the line and had a trey for 6 points. Kyle Spicer ended up with 3 points and Ed Barnes 2. Reuter led in rebounds with 8, and both Reuter and Barnes had 2 blocks each.

In team stats, the Horns shot 24/73 from the field going 7/23 from 3-point land and were 19/28 at the foul line. They had 24 rebounds, 6 blocks, 15 steals, 8 assists, 8 turnovers and 25 fouls.

Bayard was 19/56 from the field and 5/19 on 3 pointers, 20/30 at the line and had 22 fouls. They were led in scoring by Justin Whitebear with 19 and Peyton Oliverius with 16 with 7 players getting into the scoring.

Kimball coach Gene Mohr said, “One thing about this team that we really like is some one always steps up. If the shots don’t fall for one player, another player steps up. Just like tonight, as you can see by each quarter. These kids always play hard and we have good hope for them this weekend at the WTC tournament.”

Kimball will play the winner of Morrill and Hemingford Friday evening at 5:30 at WNCC Cougar Palace with the winner of that game moving into the championship game at 7:15 Saturday evening.

Kimball 22 20 12 20 – 74

Bayard 8 15 19 21 – 63