Big second quarter earns Longhorn boys win over North Platte St. Pat’s

The Chase County boys’ basketball team improved to 12-8 with a close win over North Platte St. Pat’s Friday.
The SPVA tournament champions, who came into the night with a 15-4 record, took a quick six point lead. CCS tied the game at eight, but finished the first quarter trailing 13-17.
The Longhorns went on a three pointer rampage in the second quarter.
Kade Anderson started and ended the streak with three 3’s from Mason Nordhausen sandwiched in the middle. Nordhausen scored 13 points in the quarter. Overall the Longhorns held a 19-9 advantage over the final eight minutes of the half and took a 36-32 lead to the locker room.
Cedric Maxwell and Tysen Lempke added 3s to start the second half. CCS went on a six point run to push the lead to double digits, 44-31, and finished the quarter ahead 49-41.
The Longhorns led 59-51 with four minutes left in the game, but the Irish scored seven straight points to pull to within one with 1:29 remaining in the contest.
The teams traded free throws over the next minute. St. Pat’s made five of six from the charity strip in the stretch, shortening the CCS lead to 62-61 at one point.
But Chase County’s Keenan Cole was able to match the output. Cole’s final two free throws with 30.7 seconds left gave the Longhorns a 64-61 win.
    “I felt like we were well prepared going into both games (Yuma Tuesday and St. Pat’s Friday) and the boys did a great job of executing the game plan defensively and offensively,” CCS Head Coach Chris Bartels said.
    “It obviously helps when the ball is going through the hoop, especially from 3,” he added.
CCS had a scorching 60.9 eFG percentage after making 10 of 23 two point attempts and 12 of 23 three point attempts.
Four Longhorns finished in double figures with Nordhausen’s 22 points leading the way. Maxwell scored 17 points and Cole and Anderson each added 11.
    “It was nice to see our guys start hitting shots that they regularly hit in practice. I think this is a great sign for things to come the rest of the season,” Bartels said.
Maxwell had team highs with nine rebounds and seven assists.  
    Looking back on a week and the two wins, Bartels said, “We have talked quite a bit about the importance of continuing to get better each day in practice so that we are playing our best basketball at the end of the season when it counts, and I think last week was a big step in the right direction.”
Up next
Tuesday’s game against Wray, Colorado was moved to Friday. CCS will travel to Wray. The games will begin at 4 p.m. with C team boys.
    “Wray has a solid basketball program and they continue to get better every year we play them, so we are looking forward to a competitive ball game on Friday,” Bartels said.
He added attendance will be capped at 100 total fans per game and everyone, including players, will wear masks throughout the evening.
The Longhorns will be at 6-13 Cambridge Saturday then wrap up the regular season hosting 6-11 Sutherland Feb. 19.
Bartels said CCS won’t take the Trojans or Sailors lightly.
    “Our main goal for the rest of the season is to improve every day so that we are ready to play our best come subdistrict time,” Bartels said.

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