Junior High Boys Defeat Greeley County
The junior high boys basketball teams both defeated the Greeley County Jackrabbits in St. Francis on Tuesday, November 8. The A-Team won by a large margin, 53-18. The B-Team earned a close come-from-behind win, 26-23.
In B-Team action, St. Francis led 9-6 after one quarter, but did not score in the second period. The Indians trailed 9-13 at halftime. The young Indians continued to fight hard and trimmed the margin to one point (20-21) by the end of the third period. In the final quarter, the Indians scored 6 points while the Jackrabbits could only earn one basket. The B-Team Indians defeated Greeley County 26-23.
Indians scoring in the B-Team game included Preston Witzel (11), Ben Busse (9), Tyson Poling (4), and Garrett Helton (2). Julian Lira led the Jackrabbits with 11.
St. Francis was in full control throughout the A-Team game. St. Francis led 20-1 after one quarter of play and cruised to a wide-margin victory. The Indians superior size and good skills allowed them to control the contest from the outset. The Indians opened the game with an offensive rebound basket by Jesse Baxter on their first possession. Adam Krien then earned a steal and turned it into a layup by Shaydryon Blanka with a nice assist. Krien scored on the third Indian possession on an offensive rebound. Greeley County called a time-out trailing 6-0 with 4:46 left in the first period. Krien's trey from the right corner was followed by another offensive rebound score (plus one) by Baxter. With only 2:38 gone in the contest, the Indians led 12-0. Another Baxter stick-back and assist to Krien on the break triggered the second GC time-out at 2:26. With 1:14 left in the first period, the Jackrabbits converted a free-throw to get on the scoreboard. In the final minute of the period, Baxter scored again on an offensive rebound, and Krien set up a fast-break score by Colton Neitzel with an assist. St. Francis led 20-1 after one period of play.
With many Indians sharing playing time, the Rabbits fared better in the second period. Adam Krien scored on an offensive rebound, and then Kobe Tice swished a shot from the right wing (assist Garin Cooper). The Jackrabbits scored their first basket of the game, a free-throw line jumper, to move the scoreboard to 24-3. Colton Neitzel's assist to Jesse Baxter in the post answered the GC score. The final three baskets of the second period were all scored by Greeley County (two on out-of-bounds plays and one on a post move). The Indians held a 26-9 advantage at halftime.
The third period opened with a left wing score by Kobe Tice. After a driving score by the Rabbits' Rey Chavez, Adam Krien scored on a right-wing jumper. A drive by GC's Manny Chavez was followed by a post move by Seth Williams trimming the margin to 30-15. The Indians called time-out with 1:56 remaining in the third quarter. The only additional score in the period was a free-throw by GC's Titus Sherer. The Indians led 30-16 after three periods, having been out-scored in the last two periods by the Jackrabbits.
It was time for the Indians to execute better......and they did. St. Francis completed the contest out-scoring the Jackrabbits 23-2 in the final stanza. In the first minute and a half of the period, the Indians received a high-post basket by Shadryon Blanka (assist Adam Krien), a free-throw line jumper by Garin Cooper, and a Blanka offensive rebound score. Greeley County called time-out with 4:29 remaining in the game trailing 36-16. The Indians kept charging. Colton Neitzel's assist set up another Blanka score, and then Jesse Baxter and Krien added offensive rebound baskets. Krien's fast-break lay-up with 3:06 remaining was following by a Baxter assist to Blanka for another driving score. The margin grew to 30 (46-16) on the play. The Jackrabbits converted consecutive free-throws with just over two minutes remaining for their only points of the quarter. St. Francis closed the game with a Blanka free-throw, a Blanka drive, an offensive rebound score by Neitzel, and an out-of-bounds play score by Baxter (assist Krien). St. Francis defeated the Greeley County Jackrabbits 53-18.
Scoring for the Indians in the A-Team game were Jesse Baxter (15), Adam Krien (15), Shadryon Blanka (13), Kobe Tice (4), Colton Neitzel (4), and Garin Cooper (4).
The Indians will play Quinter, in Quinter, on Thursday, November 10.
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