A number of sophomores are getting a lot of playing time this year for the Lawrence-Nelson Raiders. Above, Clay Williams secured the ball against Hershey for L-N and looks where to go from there. Also in the picture are: Logan Menke (23) and Toby Kotinek (5). In the Gering game, Clay scored nine points and grabbed three rebounds. (Photo courtesy of Denise Mazour.)
In a crowd . . . but all alone at this time. Toby Kotinek tracked down a loose ball and looks for teammates to help move the ball up court against the Hershey team. (Photo courtesy of Denise Mazour.)
Holiday Tournament are popular with basketball coaches and L-N took a trip out to the sand hills this year as they played twice at Hershey, Neb.
They took a step up with opponents in Class C-1 and Class B, but did make an account for themselves winning one and losing one. The games were pretty well played, but the boys were just a little out-of-step in the first game.
L-N – HERSHEY: 29-45: This reporter isn't sure of heights, but it appeared Hershey had a couple of tall players, capable to controlling the court under the basket and they limited a number of Raider drivers to the basket. The Class C-1 School was just a little too much for L-N.
Logan Menke got the Raiders going in the first period scoring six of his team-high 11 points early in the game. The Raider's doom was spelled in the third period when there was a lid solidly in place on their bucket. The fourth period saw a lot of good Raider action, but it could not overcome the large lead Hershey established up to that point.
L-N 8 10 0 11 - 29
Hershey 14 13 7 11 - 45
Scoring figures are not official but what this reporter could track: Logan Menke 11, Keaton Mazour 4, Toby Kotinek 3, Krayton Kucera 4, Nolan Osdiek 4, Clay Williams 2, Erik Wheeland 1.
L-N – GERING: 54-47: Not happy with the loss to Class C-1 Hershey, the boys played Class B, Gering on the second day of the tournament. And . . . they were able to come home with a win, 54-47.
An interesting thing about this game was the statistics from the charity stripe. First, look at the quarter scores:
L-N 15 8 16 15 - 54
Gering 21 5 6 15 - 47
Next: Gering jumped out to that six point lead in the first period by making 7 – 8 free throws. L-N made 2-2. In the following three quarters, Gering made 4-14 and L-N made 11-23 which accounts for the seven point difference in the score.
Of course there was a lot more to the game such as Logan Menke finding multiple ways to drive to the basket and recording a double-double for the game with 25 points and 14 rebounds. Krayton Kucera hit double figures in scoring with 11 and Clay Williams added valuable minutes to the winning effort with 9 points. Both Krayton and Clay hit 2-4 from the 3-pt. arc.
In that first period, L-N was very cool for the first three minutes and the last minute, but between those time periods, they canned three, 3-pt. shots in a row to stay in the game.
The Raider defense got a lot better in the second period and in the last half of play it seemed that rebounding favored L-N. In that rebounding department, Logan's 14 rebounds were supported by Nolan Ostdiek's 5 and then Krayton, Tyson Kotinek, Clay Williams and Keaton Mazour each got 3 rebounds.
Unofficially the scoring went: Bayln Bargen 1, Toby Kotinek 0, Krayton Kucera 11, Nolan Ostdiek 2, Logan Menke 25, Tyson Kotinek 1, Clay Williams 9, Keaton Mazour 5.
On Tuesday the boys travel to McCool Junction. Then on Thursday they entertain Giltner. On Jan. 11, Rock Hills visits Nelson for a game. The JV team will play at a tournament at Sandy Creek on Saturday.
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