Early slump, miscues scuttle Raiders

While the Sidney Red Raiders boys baskeball team was struggling to take care of the ball in the first quarter Thursday night at the Cabela's Athletic Facility, the Omaha Skutt Catholic SkyHawks took advantage.

After jumping out to a 12-1 lead the Sky Hawks kept up the pressure on their way to a 67-38 non-league win over the Raiders in a first-round game of the Western Conference Invitational.

The Raiders will travel to Scottsbluff to play in the second round of the tournament against a more familiar district foe. Sidney and the Alliance Bulldogs will tip off at 6:30 p.m. at Scottsbluff High School in a consolation match. Chadron earned the right to play Skutt in the winners bracket after dropping Alliance 60-51 in another first-round game.

"Our intensity was not where we needed it to be tonight," said senior Lucas Rosenbaum. "We turned the ball over 17 times and that's way too much."

Sidney's ball control issues began right from the start. Not only did the turnovers aid the SkyHawks offensive effort, but they contributed to a stymied Raiders attack. It took nearly half of the first quarter for the home side to get their first point on a Lane Harvey foul shot. Nearly three minutes more elapsed before the Sidney recorded their first field goal.

With 1:48 left in the first frame, Tyler Wintholz finally ended the draught with a driving layup. By that time Skutt held a 17-5 advantage. Two free throws from Jake Sager accounted for the Raiders other two. A pair of late first quarter scores by Rosenbaum and Harvey helped give the home crowd some hope, but it was short lived.

"I think their press kind of surprised us a little," said center Nick Castner. "We've worked on it in practice but it didn't seem like we were really ready for it when we faced it. But this is our first game. We'll learn from this."

Despite first game miscues, the Raiders indeed showed a willingness to learn and to fight back. Trailing by 10 at 19-9 entering the second quarter, Paxton Ehler helped reverse a 4-0 start by the SkyHawks with a three pointer. Harvey followed him by nailing both ends of a 1-and-1 to bring the home team to within nine.

The Raiders were never as close again, but the gap was not due to any sudden surges. The SkyHawks slowly but steadily built their advantage with better rebounding and ball control.

Among five goals Raiders Head Coach Erik Kohl stresses are finishing the game with eight or less turnovers and to win the rebounding battle. As Sidney suffered unaccustomedly in both areas, Skutt Catholic increased their advantage to 36-22 at the half.

"Turnovers were definitely a problem," said Wintholz. "But we also need to play better defense and get good shots on every possession."

Sidney struggled with their foul shooting in the as the second half opened going 1-5 during the third eight minutes. The only converted freebie was made by Ehler as he completed a three-point play.

As in the pre-season exhibition game on Monday versus North Platte, Ehler was again perfect from the line.

Ehler scored a more traditional three pointer - one from behind the arc - to provide one of the few bright spots for Sidney in the third quarter. The SkyHawks increased their advantage to 19 at 50-31 entering the final stanza.

Ehler sparked the home crowd again with another three in the final frame. But the team missed all four of its free throws over the final eight minute span as the SkyHawks finished off the game with a 17-7 run.