Raiders send early message with Hall of Fame win over North Platte

With a strong sense of optimism surrounding the Sidney High School boys basketball team, the 2013-14 Raiders were unveiled to the public Monday night in a Nebraska Hall of Fame game at the Cabela's Athletic Facility.

Although just an exhibition benefit which carries no weight in the standings, the new-look Raiders passed their first test in fine style, recording a 62-58 triumph over the North Platte Bulldogs, a Class A opponent.

"You could feel the excitement we were really looking forward to getting out and playing," said Paxton Ehler, who led all scorers with 25 points. "I think this game sends a message that everyone needs to look out for us. We're going to play hard every night."

While the Raiders led by as many as 11 points in the first half, it was the Dawgs that had most of the answers in the early going of the final quarter. After North Platte's Shane Mauch sank a three pointer from the top of the key with 5:25 left to play, the Bulldogs held a six-point lead at 51-45.

Crunch time having arrived, the Raiders outscored North Platte 17-7 the remainder of the way.

Sidney's comeback began with Ehler, who answered Mauch's three with one of his own. Though the Raiders' surge was aided by timely buckets from Ehler, Tyler Wintholz and Jake Sager - defense was also part of the recipe.

Largely through the efforts of Sager, Logan Lewis and Nick Castner, the Bulldogs 6-7 center Drew Callaghan's impact was minimized in the fourth quarter. While Callahan finished with a team-high 21 points, he scored but 3 during the Raiders' final push.

"(Callaghan) is probably one of the best post players we're going to see," Ehler said. "Those guys did such a good job defending him."

After Ehler's three pulled the Raiders to within striking distance at 51-48, they chipped away until Wintholz hit a short jumper from the left side to tie the contest at 56. Callaghan followed by sinking a pair of free throws for a short lived two-point lead for North Platte. 

Callahan's pair, it turned out, were the last his team would score on the night.

Sager put up a two pointer from down low for the final tie at 58. The last four points of the game were scored by Ehler - and all from the free-throw line. Though fouling Sidney became necessary for North Platte as the seconds ticked away, Sidney was able to get the ball to Ehler.

On the night the senior was perfect in eight trips to the free throw line.

"We've had a good couple of weeks in practice and it showed tonight," said the Raiders Head Coach Erik Kohl. "This was nice but it doesn't really count. Thursday is when it all starts to matter."

While the Raiders opened the game by falling into a quick 4-0 hole, they eventually took control to establish an eight-point advantage by the end of the first frame. Two three's from Ehler and a two-point jumper from Lane Harvey were the answer to the Bulldogs 4-0 lead. The Raiders massaged the 8-4 edge into an 18-10 advantage after the first eight minutes.

"We expected this game to be close," said Wintholz. "These guys beat us by 15 points over the summer in the Mr. Basketball Tournament. But our team chemistry is better now and we play much better together than we did then."

Harvey gave the Raiders their biggest lead of the night at 23-12 early in the second quarter after sinking a three pointer from the top of the key. North Platte quickly reversed the tide, however, when its 9-0 run made the score 23-21. From there the game remained close the rest of the way as the Dawgs 51-45 fourth-quarter lead was the biggest advantage either team could gain in the second half.

"We wanted to send a message to the rest of our district teams that we're a much better team than we were last year," said Harvey. "We have some things to work on but we even exceeded our coach's expectations tonight."

Sager had a similar view.

"This sets the tone for our season," he said. "We played hard and played hustle defense. That's the kind of a team we want to be."

In addition to Ehler's 25 points, Wintholz added 12, Harvey 11 and Sager six.

The Raider boys open their regular season at home on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Western Conference Invitational against Omaha Skutt. The Raiders lost by 10 to Skutt last season in overtime.

Boys Basketball

Sidney 62

North Platte 58