Cardiac kids! CCS heading to Lincoln

 Saturday’s district final between the Chase County boys’ basketball team and Amherst was a little like going to church. Show up late and you sat in the front row.
McCook High School Athletic Director Darrin Nichols said, though no one was turned away, attendance reached 75% capacity.
And felt like 90%, Nichols said.
Fans kept the gym buzzing throughout Chase County’s 71-55 OT win.
    “The atmosphere was awesome at Hershey on Thursday and McCook on Saturday. Our community had a great showing and I couldn’t be happier about it. These kids deserve to play in those types of fun atmospheres and I think our great crowd had a legitimate impact on both games. The awesome community support is something I will never forget,” Chase County Head Coach Chris Bartels said.
    Saturday’s site selection was a compromise, Bartels said.
Amherst wanted to play Saturday, while CCS wanted to play Monday so it would have more time to prepare.
McCook was the compromise, Bartels said, since he wanted his team on a court they’d played on this season.
Senior Mason Nordhausen got CCS off on the right foot with a three pointer before Kade Anderson and Clay Meeske scored in the paint.
Amherst scored on a put back to take its only lead of the game 8-7 with three minutes left in the first quarter.
A conventional three point play by Cedric Maxwell quickly gave CCS the advantage once more and a put back by Maxwell made the score 12-8. Amherst finished the quarter with a late basket to shorten the margin to two points.
The second quarter was all about the Longhorns.
CCS held Amherst to three free throws in the quarter, while getting five points by Nordhausen, four from Meeske, two by Tysen Lempke and one from Keenan Cole.
Starting off the second half with a 24-13 lead, CCS increased it in the third quarter.
Long range shooting continued to be the key to Chase County’s offense. The Longhorns hit three from downtown and added two free throws in the quarter to increase its lead to 35-22.
The 13 point deficit didn’t deter Amherst.
Despite CCS holding a 41-26 lead after a Lempke basket with six minutes left, the game was far from over.
The teams traded free throws, Maxwell made two and Amherst made three, before two three pointers by Amherst brought the score to 43-35.
Nordhausen traded a basket with the Broncos to keep the lead at eight points, 45-37.
Seven straight points by Amherst, however, sent CCS fans’ hearts to their stomachs as Chase County’s lead shrunk to 45-44 with 47 seconds left.
With CCS only making 3-7 free throws over the final minute of regulation, the door was left open for Amherst.
The Broncos ran an inbounds play from in front of its bench with two seconds left to score and tie the game at 48.
    “We had worked so hard to build up a double digit lead, then to see it completely go away is crushing,” Bartels said, adding, Amherst clearly had the momentum going into OT.
But Anderson took over in the four minute overtime. The sophomore scored eight points in two minutes — Amherst only scored seven points in all of overtime — to give CCS the breathing room it needed.
    “Winning the tip and getting Kade to the free throw line was honestly huge for us. Kade knocked both free throws down and it gave us a chance to breathe a little bit. Then we got a stop and another score and it was pretty much over after that,” Bartels said.
    “Credit to the kids on that one, they could have easily given up at that point, but they just didn’t want their season to end,” he added.
Lempke would make the Longhorns’ only other basket of overtime, but Chase County hit 14 of 16 free throws in overtime to put the nail in Amherst’s coffin.
Maxwell had a double-double in the contest with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Anderson also scored 18 points and Nordhausen 15.
Though field goal shooting was comparable, each team made 15 two-point field goals and CCS made one more three pointer than Amherst, free throws were strongly in the Longhorns favor.
Amherst committed 28 fouls and sent CCS to the charity stripe 33 times where the Longhorns connected on 23.

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