Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Logan Lewis finds the going tough between Scottsbluff defenders Saturday evening.The SHS Raiders led most of the contest before falling late, 54-50.
Inside the paint. Outside the 3-point arc. From the free-throw line. It didn’t matter to Eric Moreno … he kept on scoring.
Moreno posted all but one of his game-high 26 points in the second half, single-handedly outscoring Sidney High School boys’ basketball team over the final 16 minutes to propel Scottsbluff to a come-from-behind, 54-50 victory Saturday night at Cabela’s Athletic Facility.
With the win, the Bearcats improved to 13-3; SHS’s Red Raiders dropped to 11-6.
“That’s the thing about great players; Tthey can get it going,” Raiders coach Erik Kohl said of Moreno.
Moreno was 0-of-5 during the first half, his lone point coming on a free throw, and the Bearcats prevailed, despite trailing for all but two minutes of the entire contest.
But none of that mattered after the senior hit one of his four 3-pointers to give the Bearcats their first lead, 48-47, with 1 minute, 58 seconds remaining.
Morento then converted a pair of free throws a minute later to push the lead to 50-47.
Sam Arterburn nearly had the equalizer for the Raiders a couple possessions later, but his 3-point attempt from the left wing caromed off the rim at 22 seconds.
After Moreno made another pair of free throws, Casey Mabey buried a trey to pull the Raiders within 52-50 at the 11-second mark. But the Raiders would get no closer, watching their five-game winning streak snapped.
“It feels good (to beat Sidney); they are a good team,” said Moreno, whose squad got back on track after a lopsided defeat to neighbor Gering last week. “It’s a huge win for us, coming off a tough loss and being on the road here.”
For much of the evening, however – especially in its earliest stages – it appeared as though the Raiders might push their winning streak to six.
The Raiders raced to an 11-2 lead behind 3-pointers from Lane Harvey, Arterburn and Mabey in the opening four minutes and rode the momentum to a 26-23 halftime advantage.
Despite 11 third-quarter points from Moreno, the Raiders took a 38-36 lead into the final quarter and held the same two-point edge with two minutes remaining.
That’s when Moreno struck for three of his 14 fourth-quarter points, giving the Bearcats a lead they would never lose and capping a second half in which he finished 7-of-14 from the field, 7-of-10 from the free-throw line and outscored the Raiders 25-24.
“I just tried to shoot myself out of it,” he said. “I wanted to do anything I could to help my team win.”
The Raiders, who get another shot at the Bearcats when they visit Scottsbluff at 7 p.m. Thursday, were led by the 17 points of Mabey.
Harvey scored nine, Paxton Ehler added six, and five players – Arterburn, Nick Castner, Tyler Wintholz, Logan Lewis and Lucas Rosenbaum – had at least three.
Kohl said a lack of late-game execution and attention to detail contributed to the loss. It didn’t help that the Bearcats attempted 25 free throws to the Raiders’ 10.
Clean up around the edges, and Kohl believes the Raiders can compete with the best.
“We did a lot of good things. The effort was very good, the effort is there,” the coach said. “If we can improve on all the little things, we can play with anyone.”
Boys
Scottsbluff 54, Sidney 50
Scottsbluff 7 16 13 18-54
Sidney 13 13 12 12-50
SCOTTSBLUFF (13-3)
Winkler 0 2-4 2, Hinze 1 0-0 3, Klein 3 0-0 7, Moreno 7 8-12 26, Hadden 5 4-7 14, Lofink 0 2-2 2. Totals 16 16-25 54.
SIDNEY (11-6)
Mabey 7 0-0 17, Harvey 3 2-4 9, Ehler 2 1-1 6, Wintholz 2 0-0 4, Lewis 1 1-5 3, Arterburn 1 0-0 3, Rosenbaum 2 0-0 4, Castner 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 4-10 50.
3-point goals – Scottsbluff 6 (Moreno 4, Hinze, Klein), Sidney 6 (Mabey 3, Harvey, Ehler, Arterburn).
Lady Raiders lose at Hershey
HERSHEY — The road may have taken its toll on the Sidney High School girls basketball team in its 45-27 loss at Hershey Saturday evening.
After losing a tough contest late Friday at Chadron, Tyler Shaw’s Lady Raiders were back on the bus Saturday for yet another long trip.
Despite leading 19-10 at halftime at Hershey, the legs seemed to come out from beneath SHS (12-5), which was outscored 32-8 in the second half.
The Lady Panthers (14-3) scored the first 10 points of the third period, and simply drew off.
Sarah Mahr and Sarah Krueger led Sidney with seven points each.
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