Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Sidney senior Alex Jallen fights for the ball during Sidney's 62-45 loss to Ogallala on Saturday.
Friday's Senior Night matchup against Ogallala had the markings of a lopsided game, with the Red Raiders struggling to find a winning formula while the Indians entered the night undefeated.
After the jump ball, the casually confident Ogallala squad quickly opened up an 8-to-0 lead, with four points coming off steals of Sidney inbounds passes. Sidney head coach Austion Lewis called a quick time out to stop Ogallala's momentum, and Sidney showed some offense of their own with senior Arik Doty draining a three pointer to get Sidney on the scoreboard.
Ogallala's tall and speedy team continued to score, but made uncharacteristic miscues that kept Sidney close. As time wound down in the first period, senior Carlos Lucero hit for two points, then was able to recover the ball off an inbounds pass and put up a three pointer as time expired.
The shot missed, but Lucero drew the foul, and made two of three free throw shots to keep Sidney within reach, 23-to-17.
Sidney started the second period hot, with Lucero hitting a three pointer to bring the Raiders within two, 25-to-27. Senior Alec Maddox followed with two more to even the score at 27, then Doty nailed a three-pointer to give Sidney a 30-to-27 lead. The teams then battled back and forth until Sidney found themselves down by one, 32-to-33, going into the half.
Ogallala continued to struggle in the third period, missing shots and turning over the ball while Sidney started to get their shots to fall. Again, the teams battled back and forth through the period until the fourth quarter started with the undefeated Indians only leading by two, 44-to-42.
Ogallala made some defensive adjustments to shut out the inside, and the Raiders were forced into outside shots in the fourth quarter. The hot shooting went cold for Sidney, while Ogallala bore down and started to score.
The Ogallala dominance did not stop, and the Indians went on a 20-to-0 run until Sidney finally hit a bucket at 1:55 left in the game. The final score showed a 62-to-45 final, betraying the closeness of the contest throughout the first three quarters of the game. Doty led the Sidney scoring with 15 points, all in the first half.
It didn't get easier for Sidney as they next traveled to Lexington on Saturday to take on the Minutemen, a team that lost by one point in overtime to Ogallala earlier in the season.
Sidney hung in with the Minutemen in the early going, leading 17-to-15 going into the second period, but again the Sidney offense cooled while the Lexington defense stiffened, and the Minutemen rolled with 27 points in the period to take a commanding 42-to-22 lead at the intermission.
The Minutemen continued to pull away, putting up 26 points in the third and 13 in the fourth, while holding the Raiders to just 14 points in the second half to earn the 81-to-36 victory.
Sidney next travels to Yuma, Colo., on Saturday to take on the Indians.
Reader Comments(0)