Chase Co. boys rebuild, prepare for the future

After losing five seniors last year’s state tournament team, this year’s Chase County boys’ basketball team had big shoes to fill.
Five seniors stepped up to lead the 2021-2022 team.
After not playing as a junior last year, Ryan Bernhardt stepped into starting role as a senior.
Bartels credited Bernhardt with getting better and more confident as the season went on.
“Ryan was incredible for us this year. He came to practice everyday and worked as hard as he could, and that kind of effort doesn’t go unnoticed. He always had the toughest task on defense, and he always delivered,” Bartels said.
Keenan Cole has come a long way since he was a freshman in high school, Bartels said.
After picking up serious varsity minutes late in his sophomore year, Bartels said Cole just continued to get better from there.
“From being a starter on the state tournament team last year to being a senior leader on the team this year, I am very proud of the basketball player Keenan Cole turned out to be,” Bartels said.
Cole was second on the team with 9.1 points per game and led Chase County in steals.
Tysen Lempke battled injuries throughout his career.
Bartels said he’s really happy that Lempke ended up playing as many games as he did this year.
“We probably never got to see Tysen play when he was 100% healthy, but he always had a knack for making things happen for us when he was on the floor,” Bartels said.
Nick Rau was another first-year starter for CCS.
“For having basically zero varsity experience coming into his senior season, I think it’s safe to say that Nick had an outstanding basketball season,” Bartels said, adding, Rau improved as the season progressed and was always a great teammate.
“That’s all I can ask for as a coach,” Bartels said.
Rau was second on the team in rebounding.
Emmitt Zuege was battling illness for most of January and February, according to Bartels, but Bartels thought he did a good job for CCS this year.
“Emmitt is a really fun kid to be around and is a great teammate, and I think those qualities are really important to have, not just on the basketball court, but in life as well,” Bartels said.
Junior Kade Anderson, sophomore Jensen Olsen and freshman Tristan Jablonski each played in over 20 games this season.
“I really like how our young guys developed this year, and our future is looking up. There is a lot of work to be done, but I’m really encouraged about what we have coming back,” Bartels said.
Anderson was the only Longhorn in double figures, averaging 10.1 points per game, and led CCS in rebounding and assists.
CCS started the season with seven-straight losses. Chase County went 4-1 before losses to Perkins County and Gothenburg before the SPVA tourney.
CCS avenged its loss to PCS in the third place game of the tournament, which Bartels said was a high point of the season.
“We had a couple of key players sick that game, and everyone else stepped up big time. That game was the definition of a ‘Team Win,’” Bartels said.
CCS lost its next four games, but took a three-game win streak into the postseason.
“Another high point that comes to mind was the second to last week of the regular season when we played Hitchcock County and Cambridge,” Bartels said, adding both of those teams had winning records and were playing well.
“We knew both of those games were winnable for us, but we were going to have to play well to do so. We took preparation very seriously that week and did a great job of executing the game plan in both games. I was really proud of how the players approached that whole week,” Bartels said. The Longhorns won their first-round game, but lost in the subdistrict semifinals.
Bartels said he really enjoyed coaching this year’s team.
“I know the results may have not been as good as we had hoped, but we got so much better as the season progressed. We were playing some pretty good basketball in February, and that’s always the goal,” Bartels said.
Every season has its challenges, and this season was no exception, Bartels added, but this team continued to be coachable, and always worked hard.
“Being coachable and having a good work ethic will not only benefit them on the basketball court, but in life as well,” Bartels said.