Comeback for the ages

Last weekend, a group of sixth-graders from Sidney were involved in a basketball game that they'll probably remember for a long while.

To set the stage, the Sidney squad was playing in a tournament on Jan. 31 at Gering Middle School. It had won its first two games of the day by scores of 41-20 and 31-18.

Now, in the championship game, Sidney trailed 34-21 against Kimball with 2:29 left in the game. Down by 13 that late in the contest, it admittedly didn't look good. However, there was no quit in these boys. They pulled off an amazing win, and here's how it played out:

2:29 left – Kimball 34, Sidney 21

Sidney's Trey Douglas makes a basket to cut the lead to 34-23. Then teammate Joe Konz made a field goal and a 3-pointer that trimmed the lead to six.

1:09 left – Kimball 34, Sidney 28

Konz hits another 3-pointer to make it 34-31. His teammate, Zack Burke, then sank a trey that tied the game.

31.4 seconds left – Kimball 34, Sidney 34

Sidney has the ball, but misses a shot. Kimball pulled down the rebound and Douglas is whistled for a foul. Kimball's player makes one free throw.

21.8 second left – Kimball 35, Sidney 34

After a timeout, Sidney brings the ball down the court and Konz passes to Douglas, whose 3-pointer is off the mark. Kimball nabs the rebound, but is whistled for an offensive foul.

10.1 seconds left – Kimball 35, Sidney 34

Following another timeout, Konz dribbles the ball and fires a pass to Burke.

He passes it off to Trever Tarrell, who dribbles and squares up to the basket from about 17 feet. He has four defenders on him, but the clock is ticking. He puts up a shot with 3.1 seconds on the clock.

Tarrell's shot goes in as the buzzer sounds, giving Sidney a very improbable 36-35 victory.

The Sidney players – and parents – will be hard-pressed to find a more exciting game they've been involved in.