Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Izaac Reuter fires a shot off during the Kimball/Bridgeport game.
Beau Hanks shoots from under the basket with a defender attempted to block.
The Kimball Boys suffered a pair of losses on the home court over the weekend, losing to Bridgeport 56-41 Friday night and falling to Gordon-Rushville 47-26 on Saturday.
A taller Bridgeport club with outside talent to go with their height, gave Kimball an early 3-0 lead, but soon took control and never looked back as they dominated despite hard play by the Horns. The visiting Bulldogs had 9 players score with point guard Kaleb Lussetto high with 19 points, including 3 treys. Drake DeMasters, one
of the Dog's 6'5" players on their starting roster, finished with 10, Eric Stevens, another 6'5" sharp shooter, hit a pair of treys and had 8 points. Bridgeport had 7 treys on the night and were 15/21 at the line.
Corey Travis, at 6 foot even, battled hard inside for Kimball and hit double figure scoring with 11. Brady Kilgore and Isaac Reuter had 8 each, Brendan Walker 4, Zane Anthony and Beau Hanks 2 each. A highlight of the night for Kimball was Austin Lulf coming off the bench late to hit back-to-back 3 pointers to score his 6 points.
Travis was top rebounder for the Horns with 5, while Kilgore had 4 boards and 3 steals. Anthony had 3 steals and 3 assists. Kimball was beaten on the boards 32 to 19 by the tall Bridgeport club.
Bridgeport 17 21 12 6-56
Kimball 9 15 5 12-41
Kimball matched up better height-wise with the Gordon-Rushville Mustangs, but not with experience, as the visitors had 8 seniors on the roster. Not a high scoring affair as both teams played aggressive defense and neither team shot the ball well. The Mustangs held a 14-4 lead after the first quarter, and were up 24-9 at half-time.
Jared Nelson, 6'0" senior, son of Coach Joel Nelson, led the winners with 21 points going 5/6 at the line and hitting 4 treys. Korby Campbell was 5/6 at the line and had 9 points. The Mustangs were 12/15 at the foul line and nailed 7 treys for the game.
Kimball shot only 24 percent from the field and were 6/13 at the foul line. They rebounded right with the winners, led by Beau Hanks, as the sophomore, pulled 10 boards to lead Kimball in this category with Travis charting 7 and Reuter 5. A good night for Zane Anthony scoring-wise with 10 points and 1 trey. Izaac Reuter had 5 with 1 trey, Beau Hanks 5, Kole Bush 4, and Corey Travis 2.
Kimball will take a 4 win, 7 loss record into SPVA Tournament play this week. They were the number 5 seed and had to travel to Grant to face Perkins County this past Tuesday evening with the Plainsmen the number 4 seed. After first round play, the action moves to the North Platte Community College site for continuing boy's play on Friday and Saturday.
Gordon-Rushville 14 10 15 8-47
Kimball 4 5 13 4-26