Raiders' dramatic rally falls short

Sometimes you learn more about the soul of a team through its losses than its wins.

After a wild fourth quarter the Red Raiders came up just short of a near miracle finish, falling 62-61 to the Sterling Tigers in a non-league basketball game in Wally Post Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

Though the Raiders trailed by 9 points with 6:29 left in the final period, they managed to storm back to take a 3-point lead. Despite the effort behind their hard earned advantage, it took only seconds for fortune to be again reversed.

But the Sidney squad would not break. Trailing by 5 with under 20 seconds left, they bulled their way back into contention, forging a slim chance for a win.

"It's nice we fought back and didn't quit, but a loss is still a loss," said Lane Harvey whose defensive efforts in the fourth quarter nearly helped pull the game out.

The preamble to this wild finish came at the start of the fourth. After leading by just 2 points heading into the period, Sterling erupted, scoring 7 points in 89 seconds to take their largest lead of the game at 50-41.

But if the Tigers expected to maul their guests without a fight, they soon found out differently.

Sidney's response took just 1:15 to complete and included 9 quick points. Tyler Wintholz and Paxton Ehler struck the first blows before Harvey and Lucas Rosenbaum did much of the rest.

Harvey was twice the first man in the chain as he made two steals in the defensive zone. After his first theft, Harvey slipped the ball to Ehler. Using a little razzle-dazzle Ehler found Rosenbaum underneath with a behind-the-back pass and Rosenbaum promptly deposited the ball through the iron.

Within 15 seconds Harvey's second-story skills showed themselves again. After he robbed Sterling of possession he went straight to Rosenbaum who dropped in another layup--only this time Rosenbaum was hacked on his way up.

When Rosenbaum's ensuing three-point play was completed the scoreboard read 50-50 with 5:14 still remaining on the clock.

The jousting continued for several minutes. The teams traded the lead three times with another trio of ties in between. Though the Tigers hit three from beyond the arc in the final five minutes they couldn't put Sidney away.

In fact, with 2:18 remaining a left-side jumper by Rosenbaum gave Sidney a three-point lead at 56-53.

But the hot hands of the Tigers shooters hadn't cooled down any.

Following the Rosenbaum jumper, the Tigers' James Skerjanec hit a pair of treys to bring the home town fans to their feet. When Ethan Rose sank both ends of a one-and-one with 25 seconds left, Sidney appeared to be in big trouble.

The score now had reached 61-56 in favor of the home side. But the Raiders still wouldn't go away.

Ehler followed Rose with a three pointer, after which Tyler Wintholz and Cutter O'Connell each dropped in a free throw. O'Connell's toss knotted the game at 61 with 11 seconds showing on the clock.

Nearly eight seconds later, Sterling's Chas Lebsock bounced a free throw off the back of the rim. It hit the iron again before falling agonizingly through the net.

Logan Lewis sent up a prayer after an inbounds with 1.4 seconds left. His shot from left of the hoop bounced off the back rim, too. Unlike Lebsock's, however, Lewis's didn't fall through.

"They played the game of their lives," said Lewis. "But we helped them by starting out slow. For some reason we've been getting off to slow start's lately. We were down by two at the half. We should have been up by 10."

The Tigers hot hand was evident early as Lebsock and Matt Brower hit from down town in the first five minutes. But Ehler scored 5 points late in the first frame to go with 4 he put up earlier to help give Sidney a 14-10 lead after eight minutes.

Twice again Sterling found net from the other side of the curve in the second quarter, including one by Rose in the final minute. Chas's brother Davis Lebsock nailed the other.

The Raiders recorded their only three of the second period when Rosebaum's pass found O'Connell who bent the twine from the left side. The Raiders managed only 8 points in the period with the contributions coming from Lewis, Jake Sager and Nick Castner.

At the half Sidney trailed 24-22.

"Our defense wasn't good tonight," said Wintholz. "Our 'help recover' defense wasn't what it should be."

Lewis struck first for Sidney in the third frame when he finished off a three-point play. Neither team could gain more than a 3-point advantage in the third, but again Sterling was able to do Sidney one better from beyond the bend.

The Raiders lone three of the period came off the finger tips of Ehler, who nailed one just before the horn.

"We needed to contest their shots more," Harvey said. "They had too many open looks."

Ehler's 19 points and Wintholz's 14 were tops on the Sidney scoring sheet. Lewis and Rosenbaum each scored 9.

For Sidney the loss ends their school record 7-game winning streak. The Raiders are now 11-4 on the year. The Tigers upped their season mark to 6-7.

The Raiders have a challenging weekend approaching. On Friday they take on the 11-4 Chadron Cardinals of Class C1. The following day will be the first of two consecutive Saturday district battles with Scottsbluff. The Raiders travel to Scottsbluff this Saturday and host the Bearcats on Feb. 8.

Boys Basketball

Sterling 62

Sidney 61