The 2023 – 2024 Lawrence-Nelson Raiders fought their way through two and one-half game last week in the Twin Valley Conference Tournament. However, the final half of the championship game stole the title of Conference Champions from the team. The Raiders ended up with the second place trophy, losing to Shelton, but ahead of the other eight teams in the Conference. Team members are pictured include (back row, from left) Preston Hild and Decker Brown- coaches, Cody Funk, Caden Culbertson, Nolan Ostdiek, Clay Williams, Sawyer Cox, Caleb Griffis, Carter Griffis, Riley Cannaday, coach Nolan Kawata, (front row) Aidan Zikmund, Bayln Bargen, Connor Janda, Jackson Williams, Hayden Mazour, Jace Hoelting and Carson Vaughn. Photo by Denise Mazour.
Nolan Ostdiek splits his time playing close to the basket and at time away from the basket. The Raider senior is among the leaders in both scoring and rebounding.
It's that time of the year when conference tournaments dictate playing neighboring schools for the second time of the season. That can be good, or bad. The ten team Twin Valley Conference Tournament of last week includes teams that L-N either has played this season or will shortly play in the future.
The conference also has a team that is rated as the No. 1 team in class D-2 so far this season. The conference also had a team that lost the first eight games it played this season, but then won nine straight game after that. . . . Interesting.
The Raiders played three games, eventually meeting that No. 1 team, Shelton, and ended up with second place honors for the 2024 tournament.
L-N was the third seed for the tournament behind Shelton and Silver Lake. The Raiders defeated No. 6 seed, Giltner in their opening round of games; they defeated No. 7 seed, Red Cloud in the semi-finals and then came the loss to No. 1 seed, Shelton for the championship position.
The game summaries:
L-N – GILTNER: 33-31:
Thank heaven for a good first quarter of play. The Raiders needed it to secure the victory.
L-N 14 4 10 5 - 33
Giltner 5 8 13 5 - 31
In that first period the Raiders shot close to 50 percent from the field and used a strong defense to limit Giltner's shot attempts and force turnovers. Sawyer Cox, Nolan Ostdiek and Clay Williams kept L-N in the game by scoring all of the Raider's points in the period.
Giltner made a determined effort to win in the third quarter as they took the lead by outscoring L-N 10-3 in the first five minutes of play. The Raider recovered and held a two point lead at the end of the period.
Sawyer Cox scored about a minute into the fourth period only to watch Giltner score five points to take the lead with 2:25 left in the game. Connor Janda gave L-N back the lead with 2:10 left in the game. Those last two minutes may have been the longest two minutes ever played. There were four time outs, three fouls and a pair of free throws crowded into those two minutes. However, a sturdy Raider defense kept Giltner away from the basket and they held on for the victory.
Rebounding was a strong part of the game for L-N and the team was led by Sawyer Cox with ninw, Clay Williams with eight and Nolan Ostdiek with seven.
Six players put points on the scoreboard for L-N, led by Sawyer Cox's 10 points.
Game stats: (FG, FT, RB., Pts.)
Aidan Zikmund 0-0, 0-0, 3, 0
Carter Griffis 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0
Caden Culbertson 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0
Bayln Bargen 1-7, 0-0, 3, 3
Jack Williams 1-3, 0-0, 1, 2
Connor Janda 2-3, 0-2, 1, 6
Nolan Ostdiek 3-6, 0-4, 8, 6
Clay Williams 3-10, 0-2, 6, 6
Sawyer Cox 3-9, 4-6, 9, 10
L/N team totals: 13-40, 4-12, 35, 33
Giltner totals: 10-46, 5-6, 28, 31
L-N – RED CLOUD: 40-28:
The jump into the semi-final game of the Tournament presented something of a puzzle. Red Cloud started the season by losing their first eight games. However, up to this game they won nine straight games, all coming after the holiday break.
That question mark was reinforced in the first period as Red Cloud jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first four minutes of play. However, a couple of three-point shots helped the Raiders recover and earn a 6-5 lead at the end of the period.
L-N 6 11 12 11 - 40
RC 5 2 7 14 - 28
L-N stepped up their game and held RC to just one field goal in the second period. That was accompanied by nearly 50 percent field goal shooting and a strong defense that forced five turnovers. In fact, over a 14 minutes period covering three periods, L-N held a 19-2 scoring edge.
Five players contributed points in the third quarter and even though Red Cloud made a determined push in the final period, the Raiders kept no less than an eight point lead throughout the final period.
L-N limited their turnovers for the game giving up only eight, while forcing 16 from Red Cloud. Clay Williams led the Raiders in scoring with 16 points.
Game stats: (FG, FT, RB., Pts.)
Because of technical difficulties, we were unable to receive complete statistics. However, unofficial scoring went as follows: Clay Williams 16, Nolan Ostdiek 7, Sawyer Cox 7, Connor Janda 4, Carson Vaughn 3 and unknown scorer 3.
L-N – SHELTON: 36-71: Having earned a spot in the Conference Championship game, the Raiders found their opponent to be one of the top rated teams in Class D-2, Shelton. It was a challenge they took on with a lot of heart.
The game could almost be divided into halves. The Raiders played well enough to win (just came a little short) the first half, but in the second half, the ball just didn't bounce their way.
Both teams hit 3-pt. shots to start the game. The Raider's 3 pts. came from Connor Janda. Sawyer Cox then tied the game at 5-5. The score changed hands a number of times until Nolan Ostdiek scored to give L-N the lead which they held for about three minutes into the second period.
The Raider defense forced more turnover than they gave up in the first period and even though Shelton shot close to 50 percent from the field for the whole game, in that first period, L-N had the edge.
In spite of the good start, Shelton started a full court press that produced more Raider turnover. Shelton managed a small lead by halftime 22-26.
The last half of the game saw Shelton take advantage of Raider turnover and Shelton had a rebounding advantage as well, putting many of their missed shots back up for short little lay-ups.
Shelton's 11-27 edge in turnovers was probably the deciding factor in the game.
The Raiders played the top seeded team well enough to win in the first half of play. However, the errors of the second half doomed their upset effort.
Connor Janda and Clay Williams each had three Assists in the game.
Game stats: (FG, FT, RB., Pts.)
Aidan Zikmund 1-2, 1-2, 1, 3
Caden Culbertson 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0
Bayln Bargen 1-3, 0-0, 0, 3
Jack Williams 0-0, 0-0, 4, 0
Connor Janda 1-6, 0-0, 1, 3
Cody Funk 0-4, 1-2, 2, 1
Nolan Ostdiek 3-7, 1-2, 9, 7
Clay Williams 4-10, 0-4, 4, 9
Sawyer Cox 3-6, 4-4, 5, 10
Carson Vaughn 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0
L/N team total: 13-40, 7-14, 31, 36
Shelton total: 28-63, 8-16, 35, 71
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