Yuma Rallies Past Sidney, 50-43

Last year, the Red Raiders struggled during the first half of a disappointing season, but were able to beat the undefeated Yuma Indians on the road to provide a spark and a highlight to a down year. This year, the Indians traveled to Sidney and the Red Raiders were hoping that they could again upset the favored Yuma team to stop a seven game losing skid. With senior Arik Doty sidelined by injury, Sidney Head Coach Austin Lewis knew he'd need an outstanding effort on both offense and defense if the Red Raiders were going to knock off the 9-and-1 Indians.

The game opened in Sidney's favor, with the Red Raider defense putting enough pressure on the Indians to disrupt their shooting, and the Yuma team's offense turned ice cold and fell behind 12-to-6 at the end of the first quarter. Sidney's offense was patient and steady, and built up an 11 point lead against the visitors midway through the second half, but the the Red Raiders could not get a shot to fall.

The Yuma offense finally heated up, and went on a 20-to-0 scoring run that had the Indians close to within one point, 17-to-16, at the half then continue to score through the third period.

After the game, coach Lewis said, "That 20-to-0 run really wasn't from anything they did differently, it's just that we went into a cold spell. We got the looks we wanted to get offensively, but our shots wouldn't fall."

The combination of Yuma's shots starting to fall while the Raiders went cold deflated the Sidney team, and the Indians opened up a 33-to-26 lead at the end of the third quarter. But the Raiders weren't done, and battled back hard with sophomore Sawyer Dickman converting on a two-and-one play followed by two points by junior Dylan Gunkel to get the Raiders back to within two points at 33-to-31. The teams battled back and forth until Dickman drained a three pointer to knot the score at 40-to-40 going down the stretch. But the Indians bore down and went on a 7-to-2 run in the closing minute and were able to hold on for the 50-to-43 come from behind victory.

Lewis said, "We got back in the game mid-third quarter when we started to play with a a "Next Play" mentality and gave ourselves a shot at the end. But the difference ended up being Yuma making 12 out of their 15 free throws to seal the game."

Sidney was led by Dickman's 13 points in the loss. Lewis also said that he hopes to get senior Arik Doty back from injury next week. Sidney next hosts Chadron on Friday night at Sidney High School.