Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Logan Lewis (center) uses his head to grab a rebound from Gothenburg’s Tanner Borchardt (left) and Blake Ristine during Thursday’s 58-49 win in the Cabela’s Holiday Shootout quarterfinals.
In the early going of Thursday night’s Cabela’s Holiday Shootout matchup with host Sidney, Gothenburg’s boys basketball team succeeded in playing to its strengths, building a 17-9 lead behind the inside play of 6-foot-8 sophomore Tanner Borchardt.
That’s when the host Red Raiders began doing what they do well — knocking down 3-point shots and using their defense to jump-start the transition game. SHS quickly erased the deficit and gradually pulled away to a 58-49 victory.
Erik Kohl’s club improved to 4-2 and will meet Cheyenne South at 7:15 p.m. this evening in the semifinals. However, the latest win didn’t come easy, as the Swedes boasted the twin-tower combination of Borchardt and 6-7 Logan Koehler.
Gothenburg grabbed the eight-point lead, which Sidney wiped out with an 8-0 run to to end the opening frame. Paxton Ehler started the rally with a 3-point basket, and after Hunter Vowers put back a missed shot, Lane Harvey buried a rushed buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the right wing that knotted the proceedings at 17-all.
Sidney rode the hot hand of Ehler throughout the first half. The junior sank three treys in the second frame, which ended with Harvey again beating the clock with a runner from the right side, which produced a 30-23 halftime lead.
Kohl rolled the dice by using freshman Jake Heeren inside against the taller Swedes. Heeren was making his first varsity appearance.
Heeren used his 6-3 frame to muscle-up against Borchardt, who scored nine points early but was blanked in the second qurter,
“We were giving up six or seven inches on those guys, our guys did a good job adjusting,” Kohl said. “Pour guards sagged off their perimeter players, and helped inside. Heeren played well, too. We put so much strain on Casey Mabey and Logan Lewis — two 6-1 guys — to guard bigger players.
“To put guy like Jake who is a 6-3 freshman, but hadn’t even suited up in a game was big, and it gave Gothenburg a little something to think about.
“They had 17 points at some point in the first quarter an they scored 32 points the rest of the way. That says a lot,” Kohl added.
Gothenburg was able to cut the lead to three points in the third quarter, but Sam Arterburn scored and Heeren drained a trey from the left corner to ignite a 10-2 surge that gave Sidney a 47-36 lead. Mabey capped the scoring with Sidney’s third successful hold for a final shot.
All told, Sidney had a 7-0 edge in scoring at the end of periods.
“I was really impressed at the end of quarters where we were able to score, and those are huge momentum plays” Kohl said. “To use boxing terms, for us to get a little punch in, a little right hook there when the other team can’t respond, that’s big. It’s pretty much a tied game there if we don’t get those points.”
Sidney managed to get its transition game going in the fourth frame, and the Swedes never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.
“The keys to transition are you have to get deflections and you have to force a team into bad shots,” kohl said. “Some of our rebounders were pushing the ball, plus our wings were running wide; it puts so much pressure on the other team when you can sprint out of there for easy points. For us to be successful, as a shorter team, we have to have fast-break points.”
Ehler finished with a team-high 17 points, all in the first half, Mabey adding 10.
Borchardt had 21 for Gothenburg, which drops into the consolation bracket and will take on Love Christian Academy today. Douglas and Gering are also boys semifinalists.
“We’re where we want to be, on the winners’ side of the bracket,” Kohl said. “We know we’ll be taking everyone’s best shot, because that’s what it always seems like when teams come in here to play Sidney.”
SHS 58, Gothenburg 49
GOTHENBURG (49)
Borchardt 9 3-6 21, Ristine 4 0-0 8, Koehler 3 2-2 8, Collins 3 0-1 6, Schwanz 1 2-2 4, Ostendorf 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 7-11 49
SHS (58)
Ehler 6 0-0 17, Mabey 4 1-1 10, Harvey 3 0-0 7, Arterburn 3 1-2 7, Lewis 2 0-0 4, Rosenbaum 2 0-0 4, Vowers 1 1-3 3, JaHeeren 2 0-0 5, Frerichs 0 1-2 1. Totals 23 4-10 58
Gothenburg 17 6 13 13-49
SHS 17 13 17 11-58
3-point goals – SHS 8 (Ehler 5, Mabey, Harvey, JaHeeren). Team fouls – Gothenburg 14, SHS 11.
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