Raiders Fall to Bulldogs, Bearcats

Sidney's Red Raider basketball team hosted the rival Gering Bulldogs Friday night, then went back in action against the Scottsbluff Bearcats on Saturday.

Sidney's first game had them facing Gering for the second time, hoping for a better result than the 65-to-57 defeat at the end of their first meeting. Viewing the teams as relatively even-matched, Sidney head coach Austin Lewis stated prior to the contest that the outcome of the game was going to depend on which team shoots better, which proved to be the case at the end of the game.

Sidney started fast, with senior Arik Doty grabbing a quick steal and banging down a three point shot, followed by senior Alex Maddox sinking a three of his own to open a 6-to-0 lead. Gering fought back and took the lead, but then Sidney's shooting got hot with senior Carlos Lucero hitting two three pointers, Doty hitting another three, and junior Skylar Heineman putting up points to put Sidney up 22-to-15 at the end of the first quarter. Gering's height advantage was not a factor early on, and their cold shooting started to gradually warm up during the course of the period. The teams battled through to the end of the half, and Sidney held on to a one point 36-to-35 advantage. Sidney hit eight three point shots in the first half, and needed to keep up the hot outside shooting in the second half.

The third quarter started slowly with both teams trading the lead, until Maddox hit a three pointer midway through the period to put Sidney up 41-to-39. Sidney's shooting then started to cool off, and after a scoring burst highlighted by two consecutive steals, the Bulldogs went into fourth quarter leading 51-to-45. Sidney battled but was plagued by turnovers and fell further behind, but in the final minutes of the game started to hit their shots again. With less than two minutes to go, the Raiders had pulled to within three points, 63-to-60. But their shooting went cold again, and Gering was able to finish out the game and earn the 69-to-60 victory. Both Carlos Lucero and Arik Doty had 15 points each, and Lucero hit five three point shots in the loss.

On Saturday the Raiders faced an athletic and tall Scottsbluff Bearcats team that opened the game with a quick 9-to-0 lead on three pointers. After Lucero answered with a three of his own, the Scottsbluff lead was cut to 9-to-5, but then the Bearcats went on a tear, hitting layups and three pointers and closing the first period with a 21-to-9 lead. The big and fast Bearcats were sharp with their shots, racking up eight three pointers by the midway point of the second quarter, and went into the intermission with 40-to-22 advantage.

Heineman started the third quarter hitting a layup for his first points of the game, followed by a Maddox three pointer that narrowed the lead to 40-to-29. Scottsbluff took a time out and made some adjustments, then went on a tear and opened up a 56-to-34 lead at the end of the third period.

The Bearcats continued to match every Sidney score in the fourth quarter to maintain their lead, and ended the game with the 68-to-55 victory. Senior Alex Jallen led the Sidney scoring with 14 points, and Lucero added 13 points of his own in the loss. The Raiders next host Chadron on Friday at Sidney High School.