Basketball Team win last 4 of 5 games

Basketball Team win last 4 of 5 games

Last week the Raider boys basketball team had the usual two games and may have added two victories if it wasn’t for the last eight minutes of the first game. However, the loss and then the later victory gave the boys a record of four wins in their last five games. The loss came from a highly rated larger school and the win came from a D-2 school with a good record.

L-N – McCOOL JUNCTION: 46-63: The opponent for last week Tuesday was a powerful team from McCool Junction (MJ). The McCool team now sports an 8-3 records in Class D-1 and currently holds the NO. 3 spot in the D-1 point ratings.

Knowing all that, the Raiders took on the team and up until the 4th period looked like they were on the trail of a major upset.

The box score:

L-N 17 12 13 4 - 46

MJ 13 12 19 18 - 63

The Raiders scored first in the game and led on the scoreboard for 2 1/2 quarters. The early scoring was fueled by Sawyer Cox as he canned his first 3, 3-pt. shots to open the game. Seven player in all, scored in this game. The Raiders made 50 percent of their field goals in the first period.

Anxiety . . . probably the feeling of many fans at the start of the second period when you have more points than the well-respected opponent. However, the Raiders didn’t flinch as Cox continued his scoring, hitting two, 3-pt. shots to open the second period. Wyatt Frey and Jack Williams put points on the board and the Raiders kept their four point lead at half time.

A four minute scoring drought for L-N allowed MJ to go on a 10-0 scoring spree. However, scoring by Frey, Carson Vaughn and Caleb Griffis allowed the Raiders to earn another lead before MJ scored the final five points of the period.

Frey hit a field goal early in the final period to tie the score at 44-44. However, no other field goals fell through the hoop for the rest of the period for the period.

A couple of high points for L-N was Sawyer Cox’s scoring; Aiden Zikmund’s 7 assists and the team hitting 7 of 9 free throws. However, MJ’s post player was the determining factor as he scored 27 points, bringing down 12 rebounds as well.

The box score:

Statistics: (Scoring – Rebounds – Fouls) Aidan Zikmund 1 – 3 - 1; Wyatt Frey 11 – 11 - 5; Caden Culbertson 5 – 3 - 2; Caleb Griffis 2 – 1 - 0; Jackson Williams 2 – 2 - 0; Sawyer Cox 22 – 3 - 1; Carson Vaughn 3 – 1 - 1. Raider total: 46 – 30 - 10; McCool Junction total: 63 – 40 - 11.

L-N – GILTNER: 54-25: If you follow sports only by looking at the stats of the season, you’d miss a lot. For example last Thursday L-N with a 5-4 record played Giltner with a 4-4 record. A person might think they were two evenly matched teams and the game might be a tight game on the scoreboard.

Boy, would they be wrong.

Just like Tuesday night when the Raiders used the 3-pt. shooting of Sawyer Cox to play three great quarters, Thursday night they highlighted the “Ole Alley Oop” play where someone threw the ball high up near the hoop and Wyatt Frey would leap, catch the ball and lay it in the basket for two points. (Well, maybe they were not all “true” alley oop plays, but they were close enough.

The Raiders produced three of those plays in the first minute and one half and by the two minute mark, L-N led 8-0 making 4 of 5 field goal attempts.

L-N 19 10 11 14 - 54

Giltner 5 2 15 3 - 25

Frey’s scoring led the offensive charge of the Raiders, however, scoring did come from a variety of sources that kept Giltner from centering their defense in any one place.

The Raider defense also did its part in this win. L-N held Giltner scoreless for the first five minutes of the game. Then in the second period held Giltner to only two points.

We’ve been unable to obtain stats for this game.

The boys have a busy time ahead. This week Tuesday they traveled to Mankato, Kansas to play Rock Hills; Friday Kenesaw come to Nelson to play; Saturday they travel to Axtell.