Hot start not enough for ‘Horns at state tourney

 Four 12 minutes last week, the Chase County boys’ basketball team gave second seeded Yutan all it wanted in the first round of the Class C2 state basketball tournament. But the Chieftains found another gear as the game wore on and sent CCS home with a 43-63 loss.
The Longhorns went into the game with an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” state of mind.
Longhorn Head Coach Chris Bartels said Chase County’s main focus was on getting better at what got the team to the state tournament.
Coupled with that was how to stop one of the best guards around.
“Brady Timm is one of the best guards in Class C and we needed to pay extra attention to him. We wanted to make driving to the hoop really hard for him and force him into taking tough jump shots,” Bartels said.
Keenan Cole and Kade Anderson powered the Longhorns’ offense early in the game.
After Yutan opened scoring with a three pointer, Cole and Anderson each made two pointers for CCS.
Back-to-back buckets by the Chieftains left Chase County trailing 4-7, but Anderson got open on a nice cut for a basket in the low post and Cole responded with a three pointer.
Consecutive CCS turnovers led to consecutive layups for Yutan. Following a third unanswered Yutan basket, Cole knocked down another three pointer to keep the Longhorns within one point, 12-13.
An offensive rebound set CCS up for a driving basket by Maxwell. Anderson rounded out first quarter scoring, and gave Chase County a 15-13 lead, with one minute left in the first quarter.
Bartels was not surprised Cole and Anderson led the way early in the contest.
“We knew that Yutan’s main focus was going to be on Cedric and Mason (Nordhausen), so the other three guys on the floor were going to get some good opportunities to score. Keenan and Kade did a really good job of taking advantage of those opportunities,” Bartels said.
Another nice cut allowed Nordhausen to get open on the baseline for a field goal to start the second quarter scoring.
Maxwell found Clay Meeske open on an inbounds play to increase the CCS lead to four points, 19-15.
Yutan bounced back to tie the game at 19, before a Maxwell conventional three point play gave the advantage back to the Longhorns.
Yutan picked up the pace over the final four minutes of the half, forcing CCS turnovers and getting hot from long range.
“I thought we did a really good job of taking care of the ball and getting great shots on offense early on in the game, but then we turned the ball over a couple times in a row which led to open layups and threes on Yutan’s end, and they definitely made us pay for it going into halftime,” Bartels said.
The Longhorns held a 27-26 lead with 2:26 left in the second quarter, but the Chieftains went on a 14-2 run, capped by Yutan’s fourth three pointer of the run at the buzzer, leaving Chase County trailing 27-37 at halftime.
The CCS offense struggled in the second half.
Chase County’s only third quarter offense came in the form of two Nordhausen baskets. Nordhausen’s first basket kept CCS within 10 points, 29-39, and his second with 4:14 left in the quarter made the score 31-42.
Yutan scored the final 14 points of the quarter, however, to leave the Longhorns trailing 31-56 heading into the fourth quarter.
Maxwell scored five points in the fourth quarter and Nordhausen four. Senior Jake German hit a three pointer late in the game, as well.
Maxwell finished the game with 12 points and six rebounds to lead CCS. Cole added 11 points and Nordhausen 10.
Timm scored 23 points in three quarters for Yutan.
Tournament recap
The Longhorns were able to catch some other games while in Lincoln.
Bartels said the team watched North Platte St. Pat’s in the semifinals Thursday afternoon.
NPSP was the third seed in Class D1. The Irish beat Ansley-Litchfield 59-47 in the first round, then lost to eventual champion Humphrey/Lindsey Holy Family 43-49 in the semifinals.
NPSP finished third with a 69-59 win over top seeded Burwell in the consolation game.
CCS also went to Yutan’s semifinal game against BRLD.
Yutan won the game 49-47, then lost to Grand Island Central Catholic 34-55 in the finals.
BRLD had upset SPVA foe Bridgeport, the third seed, 43-59 in the first round.
Hastings Adams Central, which beat CCS in December, lost to Auburn 33-41 in the Class C1 state championship game.
Mullen, which beat Wauneta-Palisade to end the regular season, was the second seed and lost to eventual champion Falls City Sacred Heart 49-47 in the first round of Class D2.

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