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Nebraska City, Neb. —
After posting a solid first quarter on the scoreboard, the Nebraska City boys’ basketball team had difficulty breaking Boys Town’s half court trap defense and the Cowboys pulled away en route to an 88-48 win in the Pioneers’ gym on Friday night.
Adding to the difficulties for Nebraska City was an injury to star guard Max Ritchie.
Ritchie left the game after suffering what could be a broken nose. The Pioneer star missed much of the first half, returned for the third quarter, but sat out again in the fourth quarter.
Tanner Breazile’s first quarter scoring helped the Pioneers deal with Ritchie’s absence. Breazile scored off post moves, took the ball to the basket from the high post and also got points off of put backs in posting 12 for the quarter.
After Boys Town ramped up their trapping defense, the Pioneers found it harder to get the ball inside to their big man.
All in all, Coach Mark Ritchie said his team played well at times, but had lapses. Boys Town took advantage of those lapses.
“That is as good of a team as you will see,” Ritchie said.
Boys Town’s depth, athletism and length make it tough for most teams to compete.
Still, Coach Ritchie said his team could have done more on Friday.
“We left some opportunities out there that you can’t leave against a good team like that,” Ritchie said.
Nebraska City, 7-5, will look to get over the disappointment of Friday’s result quickly as the team gets set for the first round of the Eastern Midlands Conference tournament against a Platteview team that took the Pioneers to overtime in the first game of the season.
Coach Ritchie said he expects to get a bigger challenge from the Trojans this time around.
“They’re going to be better than the first time we played them,” Coach Ritchie said, adding that he believes his team has improved since the first meeting as well.
Nebraska City, the No. 3 seed in the EMC tourney, will host No. 6 seed Platteview at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Leading scorers for the Nebraska City team on Friday were Tanner Breazile, 18; Max Ritchie, 13; Gabe Collins, five; Tanner Faris, six; Gabe Sammons, two; Seth Anderson, two; and Collin Rarig, two. DeMaris McKeiver had 17 and David Austin had 16 to lead Boys Town. Devon Watts and Jared Foster each had 10.
After posting a solid first quarter on the scoreboard, the Nebraska City boys’ basketball team had difficulty breaking Boys Town’s half court trap defense and the Cowboys pulled away en route to an 88-48 win in the Pioneers’ gym on Friday night.
Adding to the difficulties for Nebraska City was an injury to star guard Max Ritchie.
Ritchie left the game after suffering what could be a broken nose. The Pioneer star missed much of the first half, returned for the third quarter, but sat out again in the fourth quarter.
Tanner Breazile’s first quarter scoring helped the Pioneers deal with Ritchie’s absence. Breazile scored off post moves, took the ball to the basket from the high post and also got points off of put backs in posting 12 for the quarter.
After Boys Town ramped up their trapping defense, the Pioneers found it harder to get the ball inside to their big man.
All in all, Coach Mark Ritchie said his team played well at times, but had lapses. Boys Town took advantage of those lapses.
“That is as good of a team as you will see,” Ritchie said.
Boys Town’s depth, athletism and length make it tough for most teams to compete.
Still, Coach Ritchie said his team could have done more on Friday.
“We left some opportunities out there that you can’t leave against a good team like that,” Ritchie said.
Nebraska City, 7-5, will look to get over the disappointment of Friday’s result quickly as the team gets set for the first round of the Eastern Midlands Conference tournament against a Platteview team that took the Pioneers to overtime in the first game of the season.
Coach Ritchie said he expects to get a bigger challenge from the Trojans this time around.
“They’re going to be better than the first time we played them,” Coach Ritchie said, adding that he believes his team has improved since the first meeting as well.
Nebraska City, the No. 3 seed in the EMC tourney, will host No. 6 seed Platteview at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Leading scorers for the Nebraska City team on Friday were Tanner Breazile, 18; Max Ritchie, 13; Gabe Collins, five; Tanner Faris, six; Gabe Sammons, two; Seth Anderson, two; and Collin Rarig, two. DeMaris McKeiver had 17 and David Austin had 16 to lead Boys Town. Devon Watts and Jared Foster each had 10.
