Kimball boys lose to Mitchell 60-49

The Kimball boys looked like they were gong to win their final regular season game in front of the home crowd this past Friday night, but, once again, faltered in the second half and came up short, losing 60-49 to the visiting Mitchell Tigers. It was Senior Parent’s Night and with only one senior on the roster, it was Kole Bush Night, as he and his parents were honored at mid-court prior to the start of the game.

Kimball took an 11-7 lead, but trailed 12-11 at the end of the opening period of play. The Horns outscored Mitchell 12-8 in the second quarter to lead 23-20 at half-time. The Horns started strong in the third period, going up 26-21 after a bucket and a free throw by Izaac Reuter, and led 29-25 after Zane Anthony’s 3 pointer. Colton Mielke kept Kimball on top 31-28 going into the final quarter of play, where Mitchell outscored the Horns 22-18.

Personal fouls and foul shooting was a big key in the outcome, as Mitchell had 11 fouls and were 21/32 at the foul line, compared to Kimball’s 22 fouls and 9/16 foul shooting. The Tigers, like always, had some good height to help them inside. Top scorer for the winners was Blake Thyne, 6’2” sophomore, with 18 points. Keaton Reichert had 14 with a pair of treys, Jon Pieper, a 6’6” sophomore, had 10, Riley Reisig, a 6’3” senior, had 9 and Mitchell had 7 players score.

Kimball shot 17/56 from the field going 6/31 on 3 point attempts. Brady Kilgore shot 100% on the night, making all 4 of his attempts from the field and his only free throw attempt to finish with 9 points. Colton Mielke led the scoring for Kimball with 14, including a pair of treys. Izaac Reuter had 8, Zane Anthony 7 with 2 treys, Kole Bush 5 with a trey, Beau Hanks 3 with his trey, Corey Travis 2 and Brendan Walker 1. Anthony had an overall good performance with his scoring, plus a team high 8 rebounds and, despite being Kimball’s shortest starter, he is always one of the top rebounders. He also led in assists with 4 and had 3 steals. Walker led in steals with 4 and Kilgore also chartered 3.

In other team stats, Kimball had 27 rebounds, 10 steals, 8 assists, only 9 turnovers and 22 fouls.

With the loss, Kimball closed out regular season play with a record of 4 wins and 15 losses. They moved into sub-district play at Gering this past Tuesday, where they were the number 4 seed and were to face number 1 seed, Bridgeport. With a win, they would go back this evening to play the winner of the Bayard-Hemingford first round game. First round losers are through for the season.

Kimball 11 12 8 18- - -49

Mitchell 12 8 18 22- - -60