Longhorn boys basketball splits games in opening week

    The boys basketball team opened the season on the road in Cozad Nov. 30. It was a very slow start for both teams, going over two minutes before the first points where put on the board.
    Cozad started off the scoring with a three pointer 2:15 into the game and added four more points before the Longhorns could get on the board.
    It was four minutes into the game before the Longhorns scored a point on a freethrow. The Longhorns trailed by nine, 6-15 at the end of the first quarter. Cozad managed to out-score the Longhorns in every quarter, stretching the lead to 13 by halftime, 12-25.
    The Longhorns still couldn’t get much to fall in the third quarter as the lead increased to 15 at 23-38. In the fourth quarter the Haymakers topped the Horns, putting in 19 to the Horns 16 to finish the game 39-57 in favor of Cozad.
    The top scorer for the Longhorns was Jensen Olsen with 12 with Easton Fries also in double figures with 10. Top scorer for Cozad was Noah Shoemaker with 27 to lead all scorers on the night, while junior Mason Fales added 14.
    Olsen led the Horns in rebounds with 11 of the teams 21.
    On the home court against McCook on Friday night it was a different story.
    The Longhorns started the night scoring the first four points enroute to a 7-2 run after the first 3:30 of the game. The horns kept the hot shooting going scoring in double digits in all four quarters.
    After leading 19-9 at the end of the first quarter, the Horns out scored McCook by three in the second, highlighted in the last minute of the half with a long three pointer by Lempke which was topped by a buzzer beating three from McCook.
    The Bison climbed to within six at one point in the second quarter but the Longhorns stretched the lead to 13 at half, 33-20.
    In the third quarter, the Horns put up 15 more to McCook’s 9 to take the lead to 48-29.
    The horns backed off a little in the fourth to run clock and preserve their comfortable lead. The Bison out scored the Horns 10-16 in the fourth, but Chase County won comfortably 58-45. Tristan Jablonski and Lempke both had 13 points with Easton Fries scoring 12 and Olsen 11.
    Olsen led in rebounds with 10 and the Longhorns ended the night with 13 steals.
Next action:
    The boys and girls will travel  to Sidney Friday Dec. 8 for a 4 p.m. M.T. start before returning home for a showdown with Ogallala on Saturday with an early start time of 1 p.m. M.T. with boys and girls games.