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

Longhorn Boys Third In Kimball Tournament, Potter-Dix Rebuilding

The Dundy County/Stratton boys followed the same route as their girl's team in winning over Morrill in the championship game to give them a pair of tournament titles this past weekend as they carried home to Benkleman a pair of trophies from the Kimball season opening tournament. The scrappy Tigers handled Morrill 42-25 in the championship contest after winning 58-46 over Kimball in the first round pairing.

DUNDY COUNTY-STRATTON 58

Kimball 46

Kimball's loss to the eventual champs was a simple case of depth as the Longhorns were without the services of 3 key players for their encounter with the Tigers. Brayden Tyan, a starter last season, is still waiting the O.K. from medical people to hit the hard woods after having shoulder surgery in October from a football injury. Javon Coyle is also in the same boat from a football injury, and Thomas Muldoon "tweaked" a knee during warmup prior to the game and saw no action.

The Horns could play with the Tigers despite not having the services of the trio mentioned and led 14-12 at the quarter break, was on top 27-26 at half time, and was all tied up after 3 quarters 39-39, but was out scored 19-7 in the final period as they wore down and lost the services of 6'5" senior Beau Hanks with 2:35 remaining when he got his 5th foul. The fans were treated to some close, exciting basketball right to the end and this Kimball team should win their share when they get everyone healthy and ready to go.

The Horns had 7 players play and 5 in the scoring columns led by Sam Cajero with 16 and Brendan Walker with 15. Walker had a pair of treys and Cajero 1. Austin Lulf finished with 8 points, Jacob Withrow 4 with 1 trey, and Beau Hanks with 3. The Horns hit the boards hard with 33 rebounds. Hanks and Walker had 9 each and Lulf 8. Withrow led in steals with 5 and cajero had 4 plus a team high 3 assists.

In team stats, Kimball shot 22% from the field going 12/54 and were 4/16 on 3 point shots for 25%. At the foul line they were 18/28 for 64%. They also charted 16 steals, 6 assists, 20 turnovers, and had 17 fouls. Dundy County shot 37% from the field and pulled 31 rebounds, had 9 steals and 17 turnovers.

The Tigers had 8 players score led by Michael Frederick with 11, Nolan Burrell 10, and Damon Latta and Keegan Krutsinger with 9 each.

Kimball 14 13 12 7---46

DC-Stratton 12 14 13 19---58

Kimball 60, Potter-Dix 22

Potter-Dix is a young team that will be heard from in the next two or three years as they have some tall, and talented young players that are a majority of their varsity now. Kimball was a much more experienced team this season with their senior leadership, which made the difference.

Jacob Withrow hit a trey to open the scoring and Kimball edged out to an 11-6 lead at the end of the first quarter of play and then out scored the Coyotes 14-2 in the 2nd period for a 25-8 half time lead. The Horns really caught fire in the 3rd quarter scoring 28 points and coasted to the win using all the players they had.

Once again Cajero was high for Kimball with 14 points including a pair of treys. The Horns had 4 players in double figures and nailed 8 treys on the night. Withrow had 13 with 1 trey, Walker 11 with 2 treys, and Hanks 11. Thomas Muldoon was back on the court Saturday and contributed 6 points and Lulf finished with 5 and 1 trey.

Kimball shot 40% from the field and were 6/24 on treys along with 6/9 at the foul line. Both teams charted 27 rebounds. Hanks and Walker both with 7. Kimball had 28 steals led by Cajero with 7 and Muldoon with 5. Kimball also had 14 assists with Lulf high with 4, had 17 turnovers, and 11 fouls.