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Two big weekend wins for Bison basketball boys
The McCook High School boys basketball team has missed a couple chances this season to record a signature win.
Not so on Jan. 28.
The Bison rallied for a 54-48 victory over Class C-1 powerhouse Kearney Catholic, one night after rolling to a 70-34 victory at Lexington Jan. 27. The weekend sweep boosted McCook's season record to 11-7.
"That's definitely a quality win for us," said McCook head coach Tim Garcia about Saturday's decision. "We knew coming into the game that (Kearney Catholic) could shoot lights-out. We knew that we were going to have to contest every shot. We knew we were going to have to box out well and rebound well. We knew that they were going to give us probably the best pressure defense that we've seen all season. Those are the things we worked on.
"I'm just real happy for the way the kids transferred our practice to the game. Everything we talked about in practice, everything we went over in practice, everything that we worked for and prepared for, they were able to transfer that to the court Saturday night. That was huge part for us getting this victory."
Stars shine early
Early in Saturday's game, it looked like the visiting Stars would be in control. Kearney Catholic knocked down four shots from 3-point range to help put the Bison in a 20-15 hole. Keegan Fitzgerald hit two long-range shots for the Stars in the first quarter as he tallied 10 of his game-high 19 points in the opening eight minutes.
Coach Garcia said Catholic did nothing to take his team by surprise in the early going.
"We talked about contesting all their shots, and in the first quarter we didn't do a great job of contesting those shots," Garcia said. "We gave them a couple deep 'threes'. They were good shots though -- they could hit those and we knew that and we just didn't quite apply the pressure that we needed.
"At one point in the second quarter we were down seven, I know I leaned over to the (assistant) coaches and said I'd like to cut this to a one-possession ball game at halftime, get it within two or three. Our kids kept playing, they hung in there, they didn't get down on themselves, they pulled even closer as a team, came together and ended up going into halftime with a two-point lead. I thought that second quarter really was the turning point for us."
After surrendering 20 points in the first period, McCook helped hold the Stars to just nine points in the second quarter. The Bison scored 16 points to build a 31-29 halftime lead.
Second-quarter Bison rally
McCook actually trailed by eight points at 27-19 midway through the second quarter. McCook got a pair of free throws by Mack Alspaugh, then Cody Jankovits stole the ball and passed to Sean Backer for a shot from the low post to whittle Catholic's lead in half in just over 30 seconds.
After one free throw put the Stars up 28-23, Cody Wudtke rebounded his second missed free throw and passed to Kyle Gaston for a basket in the lane to get McCook within 28-25.
Wudtke recorded a blocked shot and a steal on Kearney Catholic's next two possessions, and ensuing Catholic fouls put the Bison at the free throw line. McCook made just two of four charity shots to get within a single point. The Stars fouled on a missed 3-point shot, and Backer hit two free throws to put McCook ahead at 29-28 with 1:15 left in the half -- the first time the Bison led since early in the opening quarter.
"After the first quarter I challenged them -- I said 'we said we were going to come out and play better defense than we've played all season,' and we gave up 20 points, that doesn't cut it," Coach Garcia said. "They really responded well in that second quarter, got us the lead, and then from there they just maintained their composure, played pretty darn good basketball and got a quality win."
Big 3-point shots
Kearney Catholic came back and led 40-39 midway through the third period on a 3-point shot by Alex Liess. Liess had 15 points, including four shots from 3-point range and three long-range bombs in the second half.
Jankovits answered with a 3-pointer from the right wing with 50 seconds left in the third quarter to put McCook ahead 42-40. Wudtke added a basket in the closing seconds to send the Bison into the final period with a four-point lead.
Wudtke started the fourth period with a field goal and a 3-pointer to give McCook its biggest lead of the night at 49-40. Kearney Catholic came right back on consecutive 3-pointers by Liess and David Squiers to cut the Bison lead to three points.
McCook ran time off the clock in the final minute still holding a three-point lead. The Stars finally fouled with 17.3 seconds remaining, and Backer hit both free throws to put McCook ahead 53-48.
On Catholic's next possession, Jankovits stepped behind the Stars' shooter and blocked the attempt, grabbing the rebound to help seal the win.
Wudtke scored 10 of his team-high 15 points in the second half. Alspaugh added 11 points and Backer had 10 for the Bison.
Kearney Catholic, one of the top teams in the state's C-1 ranks, is 14-3 after Saturday's loss and a 56-35 win over Sandy Creek Friday.
Minutemen routed
McCook opened the weekend with a Friday, Jan. 27, trip to Lexington. The Bison jumped on the winless Minutemen (0-17) early, as McCook led 21-10 after one quarter and 41-14 at halftime.
"We talked about getting out early, establishing our dominance early, getting a comfortable lead early to where we could afford to play more players and if you will, rest our legs a little bit more for Saturday's game," Coach Garcia said. "That's exactly what we did. Even when we subbed out and we had our starters on the bench, the kids that were on the floor continued to beat Lexington and continued to expand on our lead and played some pretty darn good basketball."
The Bison were led by Tate Stang with 14 points (12 in the first half) and Sean Backer with 12 (all in the first half). Zayne Gillen added 11 points and Cody Wudtke had 10.
Ogallala game moved up
McCook will host a second straight C-1 foe when Ogallala comes to town Thursday, Feb. 2. That game was pushed ahead from Friday due to impending snow forecast Friday.
"The kids are just really confident right now," he said. "After we went through that three-game skid, the coaching staff got together and made some changes, since then the kids have some real quality wins in there and I just really like where this team is at right now. We're going to keep working, keep improving.
"I always talk about peaking at the right time, and we need to make sure that we're peaking in two or three weeks come districts."
McCook has six games remaining before the start of the Class B-6 District Tournament Feb. 25 at a yet-to-be-determined location.