CCS boys finish in fifth place at SPVA b-ball tourney

    What a difference five nights can make. For the first round of the SPVA tournament, Chase County traveled to Grant Tuesday, Jan. 16 to the same court they had just handed the Plainsmen a 30 point beatdown.
    The Plainsmen flipped the script and knocked the Longhorns into the consolation bracket with a 35-47 loss.
    The Plainsmen used the full court press that gave the Longhorns all kinds of trouble. The Longhorns had 13 turnovers in the first half alone.
    Another problem for the Longhorns was a red hot Blake Gardner, who led all scoring with his double-double, having 19 points and 12 rebounds.
    Chase County’s leading scorer and rebounder on the year, Jensen Olsen, tried to come in after being sick on Thursday, but looked like he twisted his ankle shortly after coming in. Zane Mays was also not available.
    Easton Fries led the Longhorn scoring with 11. Jablonski and Rau each had 5 rebounds to lead Chase County. Cameron Lempke fouled out late in the fourth quarter.
    The Longhorns will play Sutherland on Thursday at the North Platte Comm. College Gym in North Platte. Sutherland comes in to the game winless and with only seven players on the bench.
CCS vs Perkins Co. stats: 35-47
    Friday Night the Longhorns played Sutherland in North Platte in the consolation bracket. Sutherland is winless on the season and only had six boys dress for the contest, resulting in a 67-20 win for Chase County.
    It was a lopsided game with the Longhorns scoring in double digits each quarter and Sutherland was held to single digits in every quarter.
    Noah Rau led the Longhorns hitting 6-8 field goals and dropping in all five of his free throws for a season high 17 points. Easton Fries scored 13, while Jensen Olsen followed with nine.
    The Longhorns forced 31 turnovers which accounted for 40 points, while only turning the ball over 10 times for six points.
    The Longhorns played all the boys that suited up for the game. The win moved the Longhorns into the fifth place game against #5 seeded Kimball Saturday.
CCS vs Sutherland stats: 67-20
    In the fifth place game, Chase County battled Kimball Saturday starting at noon.
    The Longhorns of Chase County got off to a terrible start. Nothing would fall in the first quarter, only scoring on two free throws, while Kimble had their best scoring quarter with 16 points.
    The second quarter saw the CCS defense step up by crashing down in the lane, but the shots still would not go in.
    About midway into the second quarter, CCS got the spark it needed from Haven Hauxwell when he canned a three pointer from downtown.
    That was Hauxwell’s first of three in the game It seemed to give Chase County the spark they needed, scoring 19 points in the second quarter, while holding Kimball to just seven to pull with-in two points, 21-23.
    CCS outscored Kimball in both the final stanzas, to win the game 50-42 and finish fifth in the tournament. Cameron Lempke led all scorers with 17. Jablonski had 10, while Hauxwell added 9 and Fries 8 for some pretty balanced scoring.
    Kimble was led by Ryker Behrend with 16, followed by Brandon Paxton with 11 and Kyler Lusche with nine.
CCS vs Kimball stats: 50-42