Raiders dominate Chase County to wrap up holiday tournament

With a spark off the bench from Cody Frerichs and another solid outing from Paxton Ehler, the Red Raiders rebounded from a Friday night loss against Laramie to blow out the Chase County Longhorns 63-38 on Saturday in the Cabela's Holdiay Shootout.

The Raiders (5-3) lost a chance to meet Gering in the championship game on Friday when they were downed by Laramie 63-52. Both the Raiders weekend games were at the Cabela's Athletic Facility.

Though the Raiders missed out on a meeting with the Bulldogs this weekend, they will get their opportunity this Friday when Gering visits Sidney. But first things first as Sidney will first host Kimball on Thursday evening.

Friday:

Raiders unravel in second quarter

The Raiders and Plainsmen battled to a draw after the first eight minutes. But the second quarter proved to be their undoing, as the visitors outscored Sidney 18-6.

When Tyler Wintholz dropped in a layup to forge a 15-15 tie 47 seconds into the second quarter, it was the last time the Raiders had a taste of the lead. Laramie was boosted by hot shooting across their roster.

"They were just draining them," said Raiders leading scorer Paxton Ehler. "Some nights that just happens. Teams just start hitting their shots and they don't stop."

The shooting touch of the Plainsmen began to warm up midway through the second quarter as they scored the final 10 points. Senior Drew Burman, a 6-5 forward, hit his first three in the final minute of the opening quarter after he missing from the foul line. When the halftime horn sounded the Raiders found themselves down by 12 at 31-19.

"I think we had a little let up. We took our foot off the gas for part of that second quarter," said Wintholz. "We knew their number two (Jake Aadland) was a good shooter but we really didn't know they had so many good shooters. Maybe they just had a good night."

But Sidney remained resolute in the second half. Lucas Rosenbaum's bucket christened the third, which was a see-saw battle for much of the eight minutes. A 4-point run by Ehler early in the frame brought the Raiders to within 8. Several minutes later Cutter O'Connell drained a three to cut the deficit to 7. But Sidney could never get closer, as they trailed by 9 after three 44-35.

Ehler added a spark to his team by hitting a three in the opening minute of the final quarter, but the frame turned out to be a back-and-fourth affair which the Raiders couldn't afford. When Wintholz returned his own miss for a two-point layup not long after Ehler's hit, Sidney was within seven points at 47-40. O'Connell, Frerichs and Ehler all drained threes later in the fourth, but die had already been cast.

"I think our teammwork unravelled a bit in the second quarter and that little let down is all it takes," said O'Connell who's been productive as he's seen more playing time of late.

Ehler topped the Raiders on the score sheet with 21 points. Other high scorers included O'Connell (8), Logan Lewis (6) and Wintholz (6).

Saturday:

Strong in all phases, Sidney rolls to win

The Raiders righted their ship in a big way on Saturday morning, as they blew out a solid Chase County Longhorns (5-3) team. It was only about three weeks ago when Sidney edged the Longhorns 56-49 on Dec. 13. In that contest Chase County had a say in the outcome until the final horn sounded. This time around the Raiders had the 'Horns on their heels from the opening minute.

From the top of the key for three and then with a driving layup, Ehler quick started Sidney to a 5-0 lead. After a Lewis foul shot and a Jake Sager layup, the Raiders extended their early advantage to 8-0.

When the score reached 10-2, Rosenbaum negated a three-point play by Chase County's Jeff Dickey with a personal 4-point run. He scored his second layup after a nice cross-lane pass from Wintholz. When the first quarter was over the home team had built a 10-point advantage at 17-7.

"We reacted well to the loss," said point guard Lane Harvey. "We didn't want to have that losing feeling again and so we came out fired up."

Like he did to open the first quarter, Ehler broke the ice in the second eight minutes with another three pointer. But the second quarter was most notable for the first appearance on the scoresheet of Frerichs, who received the most playing time he's seen this year.

"He has been working hard in practice to get in the playing rotation," head coach Erik Kohl observerd. "He played well in the fourth quarter of the Laramie game and earned an early opportunity to play versus Chase County."

Frerichs made the most of it. He tickled the nylon for 9 points in a span of about four minutes. For his final points of the half, Frerichs completed a three-point play.

"I think coach put me in more today because he thought my outside shot might be effective against their zone," said Frerichs who preferred to deflect credit to others. "As far as my game went it wasn't so much me. It was more a complete team effort. We were all doing what we needed to do."

Rosenbaum's side jumper and Ehler's assist of a Wintholz layup kept the momentum going Sidney's way in the second half. The Raiders two offensive beacons of the night finished off the third for Sidney as Ehler converted a layup and later nailed the front end of a one-and-one. Frerichs contributed to an 8-0 quarter ending run when he muscled in another layup from underneath and moments later showed his touch from the outside by draining a three - his second in as many games.

As Ehler scores opened the first two quarters for Sidney so two Rosenbaum scores opened the final two frames. But as the Raiders had built up a large lead by the final period Ehler, Rosenbaum and the other starters soon watched the remaining minutes from the sidelines.

The final quarter was most notable for the unveiling of freshman Alex Linneman, who saw action in his first career varsity contest. Linneman took the opportunity to register his first varsity points when he calmly sank a pair of free throws.

Ehler, Frerichs and Rosenbaum topped the score sheet for the Raiders with 16, 14 and 8 points, respectively. Wintholz added 6 points, Harvey 5 and O'Connell 4.

The Raiders will play three games in sucessive nights beginning on Thursday. They first take on non-district foe Kimball in Sidney at 7 p.m. On Friday and Saturday Sidney challenges two district foes in Gering and McCook for the first time this season. The Friday night home contest is slated for 7 p.m. while the road game at McCook will get underway at 6 p.m. MST.

Boys Basketball

Laramie 63

Sidney 52

Friday

Boys Basketball

Sidney 53

Chase Co. 38

Saturday