The Nemaha Central Middle School boys basketball played at home and battled against the Sabetha Bluejays on Thursday, January 26. The boys thought that they would be able to sweep them right off their feet, but the boys had a challenge.
The Thunder 8th grade A-team started off the first quarter very slowly only getting 4 points, allowing the Bluejays to score 9 points. At the end of the quarter, the score was 4-9 with the Bluejays in the lead. The Thunder were still trailing the Bluejays in the second quarter, but they were able to score 5 more points. The Bluejay offense was kicking in as they scored 13 in the quarter, leaving the score at 9-22 going into halftime.
The Thunder boys hustled out after halftime with their game faces on ready for the third quarter. The Thunder boys scored 5 more points, and the Bluejays only scored 4 points leaving the score at 14-26 for the quarter. The Thunder team continued to work hard in the fourth quarter and scored an amazing 19 more points. The Bluejays struggled to hold on only scoring 7 of their own to tie the game and send it to overtime with a 33-33 score. The Thunder boys continued their hard work in overtime, with a battle against the Bluejays. The Thunder boys were able to pull through with a close win with the final score of 41-40.
Carson Edelman said, “It was a fun game, and it’s always fun to beat Sabetha.”
After a close A-team win against the Bluejays, the 8th grade B-team game started. Both teams started off slow with the Thunder only scoring 2 points in the first quarter and the Bluejays only scored 1 point leaving the Thunder in the lead, with a score of 2-1. The Thunder boys came out better offensively in the second quarter scoring 9 points and leaving the Bluejays behind with a score of 11-1.
After halftime, the Thunder boys were ready to play the third quarter. The Thunder boys were able to score 9 more points in the third quarter and the Bluejays scored 5 more points to make the score 20-6 at the end of the quarter. The Thunder team came out of the huddle and were ready to play their last quarter. Both teams ended up scoring 6 more points. The Thunder team got the win with a score of 26-12, another big win for the 8th grade teams.
The 7th grade A-team started off with a low-scoring quarter against the Sabetha Bluejays. The Thunder boys scored 2 points in the first quarter while the Bluejays scored 8 points for the lead. The Thunder boys were down 2-8 at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the boys were able to score 6 more points, but Sabetha managed to only score 3 more points entering halftime with a score of 8-11.
Coming out after halftime, the Thunder boys were hoping to catch up to the Bluejays. They scored 11 points and the Bluejays only scored 9. This cut the Bluejay lead to 1 point with a close score of 19-20. Ready to play the fourth quarter, the Thunder was prepared and ended up scoring 9 points to tie the game at 28-28 to send it into overtime. In the first overtime, both teams were playing great defense and no baskets were scored. The next overtime had the same result. The game ended up going into overtime three times but the Thunder team couldn't pull through and lost to the Bluejays 28-32.
Cole Ranieri said, “It was a tough game, with a lot of ups and downs.”
It was time for the 7th-grade B-team to play and the Thunder started off strong scoring 7 points and leaving the Bluejays down by 2. The score was 7-5 at the end of the quarter. The second quarter had a little bit less scoring and the halftime score was close at 11-7 with a Thunder lead.
The Thunder boys came out from halftime and worked hard on offense and defense and scored 6 more points, but the Bluejays caught up scoring 8 points making the score 17-15. In the fourth quarter, the boys ended up scoring 9 more points and ended the game with a win with a close score of 26-20.
The Thunder boys played very hard, but sadly, one team couldn't pull out the win with a thrilling three-overtime performance. The Thunder boys hope to pick up that win against Sabetha on the road at the end of the season.
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