Sidney rallies to top Indians

With a balanced scoring attack the Raiders kept their momentum going with a 53-48 win on the road Friday night over Ogallala.

It marked Sidney’s fifth straight win and boosted their overall record of 9-3. Ogallala, a Class C opponent, fell to 2-10.

Paxton Ehler led a trio of double figure scorers with 13 points. Tyler Wintholz and Lane Harvey added 11 and 10, respectively. Logan Lewis and Lucas Rosenbaum came close, as well, each tacking on 9 points.

It was a hard fought contest. While Sidney ultimately gained control of the affair, the Indians got the better of things for most of three quarters. When Rosenbaum pushed an offensive rebound back through the hoop with 1:40 left in the third to knot the game at 37-all, it was the first time since early in the opening frame Sidney held a piece of the lead.

“In the first half we weren’t mentally prepared,” said Ehler. “We were excited to play, but we weren’t ready to play.”

After swapping free throws the game was again tied at 38-38. Harvey finally gave the Raiders the lead for the first time since Lewis scored Sidney’s opening 5 points.

Sidney took a 40-38 lead into the last eight minutes of play.

Following a Lewis layup early in the final stanza, Ehler recorded a steal in the defensive zone and returned it back the other way for an easy two. Jared Jaeger answered with a pair for Ogallala but Lewis and Wintholz responded in tandem for Sidney.

From the midway point of the fourth quarter the Indians were never able to get closer than 4 points.

“In the first half were had a lack of focus and they came out physical and we weren’t quite ready for it,” said Rosenbaum. “In the second half we started moving the ball around and finding better shots.”

Lewis scored the Raiders first 5 points of the contest for an early 5-4 lead. He made a nice move to the hoop for a layup on his first bucket. Shortly thereafter Lewis converted an offensive rebound while being fouled and completed the three-point play.

Adam Crandall cancelled Sidney’s advantage with a three pointer with 6:41 left in the first. Crandall’s trey gave the home-town team a lead it would hold until Rosenbaum tied it nearly three quarters later.

Though Ehler and Harvey provided some highlight material near the Raiders basket Sidney found themselves in a 19-13 hole after eight minutes had elapesed.

Despite the Raiders scoring the first 5 points of the second quarter, the 6-point gap expanded to eight by halftime. Wintholz had a hand in every aspect of the 5-0 run. After sinking a foul shot, he made a block, a steal and then a perfect pass to Ehler, who converted at the other end. Shortly thereafter Wintholz hit both ends of a one-and-one.

The 5-0 Raiders run was countered by an 11-4 spurt by the Indians to close out the half.

The only field goals Sidney could manage during the Ogallala span were a pair of layups. Harvey hit a wide open Wintholz underneath with 2:17 left. Harvey then held the ball for the final shot after which he beat the buzzer with a drive for two.

The Raiders comeback began in earnest in quarter three, when they opened on a 7-2 run. Ehler hit a three during the spurt and Lewis stood his ground to take a hard charge to add some highlight material. But they still trailed by three at 32-29.

Sidney came within one after Ehler made a steal at one end and coverted for two points at the other with 3:59 left in the third. Rosenbaum’s tying bucket came more than two minutes later with his one-handed put back.

The Raiders are off unitl Friday when they welcome Class C’s Bridgeport to the Cabela’s Athletic Facility at 7 p.m. Sidney’s contest with Sterling, originally scheduled for Saturday, has been moved to Tuesday.

Boys Basketball

Sidney 53

Ogallala 48

Friday

Friday

SIDNEY 13 9 18 13 - 53

OGALLALA 19 11 8 10 - 48

Raiders Scoring

Paxton Ehler 13

Tyler Wintholz 11

Lane Harvey 10

Logan Lewis 9

Lucas Rosenbaum 9

Nick Castner 2

Saturday

LEX’TON 14 7 13 6 - 40

SIDNEY 15 11 20 14 - 60

Raiders Scoring

Paxton Ehler 20

Tyler Wintholz 13

Lucas Rosenbaum 8

Logan Lewis 7

Cutter O’Connell 4

Cody Frerichs 3

Jake Sager 2