WP boys get first win at Cattle Trail

A sixth place finish at McCook’s Cattle Trail Tournament gave the Wauneta-Palisade boys’ basketball team its first win of the season.
WP opened tournament play against Arapahoe. Broncos’ Head Coach Rod Gaston said his team stayed competitive in the game, but needs to find the bottom of the bucket more often and needs to improve its free throw shooting.
Braxton McKinney scored all five of WP’s first quarter points. It took 2:30 for the Broncos to score, but Arapahoe struggled as well before Wauneta-Palisade was outscored 3-10 to end the first quarter.         After the Warriors scored the first five points of the second quarter, WP went on its own run. Led by Garrett Hanna, and helped by McKinney, Wauneta-Palisade outscored the Warriors 9-3 to finish the half trailing 14-22.
Offensive woes continued in the third quarter. WP’s leading scorers, McKinney and Hanna, were held scoreless in the quarter. Ruel Malcolm and Michael Duvel scored the Broncos’ five points over the eight minute span when Arapahoe put the game out of reach. McKinney scored five of WP’s 11 fourth quarter points. Malcolm added four more. WP lost the contest 30-46.
McKinney totaled 12 points, and pulled down seven rebounds.
Moving to the consolation bracket, Gaston said the Broncos’ win against Southwest was WP’s best game so far this season.  
Offense was in short supply in the first quarter, McKinney scored all five of WP’s points, but kicked into gear in the second quarter. Grant Walker got hot, scoring the Broncos’ first five points, before Hanna knocked down a three pointer. Walker and McKinney kept the offense humming with a combined 14 points to end the half.
Following a McKinney field goal to start the second half, Hannah hit two buckets. Walker heated up once more, scoring eight points and Duvel added a three near the end of the third quarter. WP made 4-9 free throws in the fourth quarter to go with a basket each from Walker and Kyle Jutten in the 54-43 win.
“The boys played hard and made some good transitions throughout the game,” Gaston said, and pointed out having three players in double figures was fantastic for his Broncos.
Walker led WP with 19 points against Southwest, which Gaston said was huge for Wauneta-Palisade. McKinney finished right on his heels with 17 points. Hanna scored 11 points.
Malcolm and McKinney each grabbed six rebounds. Hanna had five assists and McKinney five steals.
“Wins always help morale,” Gaston said. He added that he felt WP wasn’t ever out of a game during the week, but needs to find more consistency to go along with the good things.
Gaston said WP’s final game of the tournament against Maywood-Hayes Center was up and down for the Broncos.  
“It took a while to get into the offensive flow,” he said.

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