Chase County boys fall to ranked Wray Eagles

    Although the game had a rough start and ending, the Chase County boys’ basketball show it could hang with Wray, Colorado, one of Colorado’s best Class 2A teams.
    Wray put the Longhorns on their heels early in the game. CCS trailed 0-7 before finding its footing and clawing its way back into the game, thanks in part to back-to-back three pointers by Camron Lempke.
    With just over three minutes left in the first quarter, CCS pulled to within three points, 12-15.
    The Longhorns completely erased the deficit with 5:51 left in the second quarter, but as fouls accumulated for CCS, Wray took control. The Eagles closed out the half with 14-straight points.
    CCS Head Coach Chris Bartels said the Longhorns couldn’t recover from that. Chase County trailed 20-32 at halftime.
    Kade Anderson spent much of the second quarter on the bench with three fouls, but returned in the second half to score nine of the Longhorns’ 11 third quarter points. Anderson finished the game with a team-high 12 points. Lempke finished with 10 points.
    Wray did most of its damage in the paint where CCS was outscored 16-48.
Up next
    Chase County’s final pre-Christmas game, CCS against Bridgeport Thursday, has been postponed to Feb. 13.
    The Longhorns will next be in action at the Sidney Holiday Tournament. Also at this year’s tourney will be Mitchell and Gordon-Rushville.
    CCS will play Gordon-Rushville Dec. 29 at 3 p.m. with Sidney and Mitchell to follow at 6 p.m. The tournament’s final two games will be played the following day with the consolation game at 12:30 p.m. and the championship game at 3:30 p.m.