The Nemaha Central boys basketball teams have just reached the halfway mark of their season. The boys have played 6 games so far and the 8th grade A-team has a record of 5 wins and 1 loss. The 7th grade A-team has a record of 1 win and 5 losses so far. On January 30, the boys would match up against the Jeff West Tigers.
The eighth grade A-team beat Jeff West the last time the teams had met and were looking to do it again. The Thunder played a great first quarter as they would take a 15-4 lead looking solid on both offense and defense. The Thunder would slow down a little, scoring 7 points in the second. Their defense wouldn’t allow a made shot, but the Tigers would make 2 free throws. The score going into halftime was 22-6.
The Thunder would have an offensive explosion as they would score a nice 17 points in the third quarter. Jeff West found some open shots and scored 7 points of their own. The Thunder slowed it down in the fourth, scoring 7 once again. The Tigers would get shut out, after a great performance from the Thunder. The final score was 46-13 with a Thunder victory.
“I think we’ve improved a lot since the first time we played these guys,” said Cooper Scott.
The eighth grade B-team would dominate Jeff West early taking a 6 to 0 lead after one quarter. The Thunder team would continue to dominate the Tigers, as they would score 8 points and allow the Tigers only 3. Going into halftime the Thunder had a nice lead of 14-3.
NC would come out with an explosive offense scoring 15 points in the third quarter while holding the Tigers to only 2 points. The Thunder team would continue to do great on offense, scoring 10 points in the final quarter. Jeff West would get their offense going scoring 5 points. The final score was 39-10 with the Thunder winning.
The seventh grade A-team had lost to Jeff West the first time the teams faced off, but now the Thunder had the advantage of the home crowd. Although the first quarter did not see a lot of scoring, it was still very intense. The Tigers would take a 1 point lead against the Thunder as the first quarter ended. The Thunder would improve on the offensive side scoring 5 points, but the Tigers would have a lot better second quarter as well, scoring 11 points. As the two teams would go to halftime, the score would be 7-14 with the Tigers on top.
The Thunder looked ready to go in the third as they made a comeback. They scored 6 points themselves and allowed the Tigers only 2 points. The Thunder team was looking to carry the momentum and take the win as they were down by three. The final quarter would see some great offense from both sides. NC and Jeff West fought hard and were tied at 21 with only a few seconds left. Unfortunately, Jeff West had possession of the ball and hit a 3-point shot at the end of the game to take the win. The game was a great one to watch, although it didn’t have the desired outcome for the Thunder boys. The final score ended up 21-24 with the Tigers winning.
“I wish we could play these guys again because I know we would beat them,” said Logan Kraisinger.
The seventh grade B-team was looking to once again beat the Tigers. They would come out on fire, taking an early 6-0 lead over the Tigers. The second quarter was a good quarter to take a potty break. Going into halftime the score didn’t change at all with both teams scoring 0. The Thunder’s defense looked great not allowing a single point in the whole half. They would lead 6-0.
Both teams finally got some offense going as the Thunder would score 4 points and the Tigers would score 2. The teams would continue to battle in the final quarter with the Tigers scoring 3 points and the Thunder scoring 2 points. The Thunder would come out on top with a score of 12-5.
At the end of the day, the eighth grade A-team would come out with a win, the seventh grade A- team would almost come out with a win, and both B-teams would win their games. It was a great night of Thunder basketball!
Clink in the link below for more pictures of the NC versus Jeff West game.