Raider freshmen whip Bearcats, stay unbeaten

For any Sidney Red Raiders' team, it's always good to beat Scottsbluff. But seldom is it very easy.

But on the occasion of the Raiders vs. Bearcats freshmen boys' basketball game Monday night at Cabela's Athletic Facility, a rare blowout occurred. Sidney turned back its archrivals 60-20 with a wire-to-wire victory to advance their season record to 10-0.

Raiders' point guard Jon Smith wasted little time in putting the Raiders ahead to stay. Five seconds after Tyler Bergstrom controlled the opening tip, Smith dropped in a layup. Jeremy Lawler then shook the strings for three just 23 seconds later and Smith finished the period by completing a three-point play. After eight minutes, Sidney had gone out to a 13-1 lead.

"The big thing I wanted to see tonight was effort no matter what the score was," said Raiders' head coach Bryan Schoening. "We had some adversity with some sickness and injury and then foul trouble, but I was happy to see that we had a much better effort in the second half."

In last week's win over Alliance, the Raiders had to do without the services of Jeremy Lawler due to illness. While Lawler returned to the lineup in good form as he led the Raiders with 16 points, Cole Westfall was felled by the bug this week. Additionally, one of Sidney's top offensive guns, Josh Schaub, picked up his third foul early in the contest.

Though Scottsbluff's Ryan Hubbard opened the second period with a 3-pointer, Lawler answered 11 seconds later with a trey of his own. Lawler hit two more bombs later in the second to help Sidney off to a 20-point lead (26-6) at the half.

"It's always our main goal to improve no matter who we're playing," Schoening said. "By the end I saw a better team than I did early on."

The Raiders kept up the pressure over the third eight minutes with their best offensive output of the game. Sidney scored 20 points while allowing the Bearcats only four.

Though Schaub picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter, he opened the second-half scoring by finishing off a three-point play. Bergstrom dropped in six points in the third with Connor Dormann and Schaub adding five each.

When the score reached 50-10 early in the final quarter, the running clock kicked in. The Bearcats, however, doubled their offensive output of the first three quarters with 10 points. They were aided by a pair of 3-pointers with one coming from Jordan Rodriguez and another from Hubbard.

Every Raiders' player scored in the contest with Braydon Cortney and Bergstrom joining Lawler in double figures with 10 points each. Schaub contributed eight, Smith seven, Dormann seven and Connor Langrell two.

Sidney remains home next Monday when it hosts Torrington at Cabela's Athletic Facility at about 6 p.m.