Basketball – Page 12 – North Platte Post Archive

NPCC Lady Knights End Season in Region IX Semifinal against Central

Posted on February 27, 2015

The North Platte Community College Lady Knights season came to an end on Thursday night in the National Junior College Athletic Association Region IX Division II Semi-finals 66 – 63 against the Central Community College Lady Raiders at McDonald – Belton Gymnasium.

The Lady Raiders jumped out to a 9 – 2 lead behind McKenna Rossmeier. Rossmeier scored the first 12 points for the Lady Raiders on four three-pointers. The Lady Knights tied the score at 12 with 15:19 to go in the first half. The game went back and forth for the remainder of the half with the greatest difference was a five point lead by the Lady Raiders 27 – 22. The Lady Knights finished out the half by outscoring the Lady Raiders 5 – 2 to trail the Lady Raiders at halftime 29 – 28.

The game remained close throughout the second half. The Lady Knights took their biggest lead of the night 48 – 43 with eight and a half minutes to go. The Lady Raiders relied on the three-pointer to retake the lead 52 – 50 with 6:45 to play.

The Lady Raiders led 65 – 61 and were at the free throw line to extend the lead when the Central bench was called for a technical foul. Clara Vinton sank both free throws to cut the lead 65 – 63. The Lady Raiders’ Montrese Weller made one of the two free throws to seal the win.

The Lady Knights finish the season at 14 – 14. The Lady Knights were led in the game in scoring by Sarah Mahr who had 17 points to lead all scorers. April Stull and Ester Micheva each contributed 12 points.

Stull ends her Lady Knight career with 757 points which places her in sixth place on the Lady Knights all-time scoring list.

The Lady Raiders improve to 15 – 13 on the season and advance to the Region IX Division II championship game against Southeast Community College. The Lady Raiders had four players in double figures led by Adreanna Beck with 13 points. McKenna Rossmeier and Lana’e Washington-Carter had 12 points. Montrese Weller added 10 points.

Tate, Thompson, Scott lead Ohio State past Nebraska, 81-57

Posted on February 27, 2015

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Jae’Sean Tate scored a career-high 22 points, Sam Thompson added 15 and Shannon Scott 13 to lead Ohio State past Nebraska 81-57 on Thursday night, the Cornhuskers’ sixth loss in a row.

D’Angelo Russell had 11 points and six assists before leaving with leg cramps for the Buckeyes (20-8, 9-6 Big Ten), who had lost their last two.

Tarin Smith had 13 points, Terran Petteway 12 and David Rivers 10 for Nebraska (13-15, 5-11), which fell to 0-8 in conference road games. The Cornhuskers haven’t won since beating Northwestern 76-60 on Feb. 3.

Tate, who also had seven rebounds, ended up 8 of 9 from the field, missing one of his two 3-point attempts. The freshman’s previous career high was 20 against Rutgers.

Scott also had six assists.

Shields Named First-Team Academic All-American

Posted on February 26, 2015

Lincoln – Nebraska’s Shavon Shields (Olathe, Kan.) became the first Husker men’s basketball player to earn first-team academic All-America honors, as the Capital One Academic All-America® Division I basketball teams as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) were announced Thursday.

Shields earns the accolade, as he was one of five players selected to the first team. The junior forward carries a 3.73 GPA in biologicial sciences. Shields has been a five-time member of the UNL Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll and served for two years on the NU Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. He is also active in the Huskers’ Life Skills program, serving as a keynote speaker for the Sportsmanship Pep Rally, as well as volunteer for Husker Heroes, Ollie Webb and Nebrasketball Buddies Clinics among other activities. Last year, he was one of 16 national finalists for the 2014 Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award.

On the court, he is a three-year starter and two-year co-captain who comes into tonight’s game at Ohio State averaging career bests in points (15.3 ppg), rebounds (6.1 rpg) and assists (2.2 apg). He is among the Big Ten leaders in scoring (eighth), rebounding (11th) and free throw percentage (.823, sixth). He has seven 20-point games in 2014-15, including a career-high 35 point effort against Omaha. He went over 1,000 career points earlier this season and is six rebounds away from becoming only the 16^th player in school history to have 1000 points and 500 rebounds at Nebraska.

Shields becomes the sixth Husker to be a CoSIDA Academic All-American in basketball (a combined seven times), and the first since Beau Reid in 1991. His selection increases Nebraska’s nation-leading total to 315. Shields is one of two Big Ten players to be named Academic All-American, as Iowa guard Mike Gessell was a third-team honoree.

CoSIDA Academic All-Americans (7)

2015 Shavon Shields, 1st team

1991 Beau Reid, 3rd team

1989 Beau Reid, 3rd team

1984 John Matzke, 2nd team

1981 Jack Moore, 2nd team

1978 Curt Hedberg, 5th team

1972 Chuck Jura, 3rd team

Suns End 5-Game Skid with 110-96 Win over Nuggets

Posted on February 25, 2015

DENVER (AP) — Brandon Knight hit two key late 3-pointers and had 19 points to help the Phoenix Suns snap a five-game losing streak with a 110-96 victory over the injury-depleted Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night.

Eric Bledsoe added 18 points for the Suns, who had six players score in double figures as they ended a seven-game road skid. The Suns grabbed 65 rebounds, most in the NBA this season.

Will Barton had 22 points and Danilo Gallinari chipped in 20 as the Nuggets lost their eighth straight game at Pepsi Center. It’s their longest losing streak at home since dropping 10 in a row beginning in April 1997 and spilling over into the following season.

The arena wasn’t all that packed due to a snow storm hitting the area.

Nuggets’ Faried, Chandler Out with Injuries against Suns

Posted on February 25, 2015

DENVER (AP) — The Denver Nuggets are without banged-up forwards Kenneth Faried and Wilson Chandler on Wednesday night against the Phoenix Suns.

Faried is sidelined with a bruised left thumb, which he hurt in the first half Monday against Brooklyn. Chandler is missing a second straight game due to a sore left groin. Chandler said the move was precautionary and he hopes to return Friday against Utah.

The news that Faried couldn’t play caught Nuggets coach Brian Shaw a little by surprise since the high energy forward practiced the day before.

Shaw said of Faried: “It was his call and he said he wasn’t going to be able to play tonight. You can’t question that. He knows himself better than anybody else does.”

Faried is averaging 11.3 points and 8.6 rebounds this season.

Huskers’ Miles Hopes Players Respond to Punishment Right Way

Posted on February 25, 2015

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska coach Tim Miles is about to find out if his tough love gets the results he desires.

The Cornhuskers (13-14, 5-10 Big Ten) have lost five straight and seven of eight heading into Thursday night’s game at Ohio State (19-8, 8-6).

They hit bottom with a 28-point home loss to Iowa on Sunday. Miles responded by locking his players out of their posh locker room and lounge and cutting off media access to them.

Miles said the team showed “outstanding” effort in the two practices after the Iowa game.

The Huskers have scored 46 or fewer points in four of their last eight games. While going 0-7 in Big Ten road games, the Huskers are shooting 22.7 percent on 3s and averaging 51.7 points.

He says he hasn’t decided when the lockout would end.

CBI to Use 30-Second Shot Clock

Posted on February 25, 2015

PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) — The College Basketball Invitational will use a 30-second shot clock to assist the NCAA in research on pace of play and scoring.

“The additional data we will receive from these games will be very meaningful to us as we meet this coming May,” Belmont coach Rick Byrd, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Rules Committee chair, said Wednesday.

The 16-team postseason tournament opens with games March 17 and 18.

The NCAA uses a 35-second shot clock.

NPCC Knights to Host Otero Junior College in First Round of Region IX Tournament

Posted on February 25, 2015

The pairings of the National Junior College Athletic Association Region IX Men’s Division I tournament have been released. The No. 2 seed North Platte Community College Knights will host the No. 7 seed Otero Junior College Rattlers at McDonald-Belton Gymnasium on Saturday, February 28 at 4:00 p.m. CST.

The Region IX men’s tournament changed format this season. The top four seeded teams of each sub-region will host the bottom four seeded teams from the same sub-region. The winners of those eight games will advance to the quarterfinals which will be held at the top remaining seed in the north sub-region. The Knights are in the south sub-region.

The Knights have defeated the Rattlers twice this season, 91-70 in North Platte and 76-72 in La Junta, Colorado.

The Knights are 22- 8 on the season and are 11-5 in the South Sub-Region. They are led in scoring by Cameron Williams with a 21.1 points per game average. Marco Pascolo is averaging 10.7 points per game and Shyquinn Dix is averaging 10.3 points per game. Pascolo leads the Knights in rebounding with 7.6 rebounds per game.

The Rattlers are 16-13 overall and 6-10 in the South Sub-Region. They are led in scoring by Josh Blaylock, who is averaging 15.4 points per game. Tre O’Neal is averaging 11.9 points per game and Brandon Wilson is averaging 10.1 points per game.

The Knights are averaging 78 points per game and allowing 70.6 points per game. The Rattlers are averaging 81 points per game and allowing 77 points per game.

The game will be live streamed on www.coachesaid.com.

Huskers Look to Bounce back at Ohio State

Posted on February 25, 2015

Nebraska hits the road looking for its first Big Ten win of the season, as the Huskers travel to Ohio State Thursday evening.

Tipoff from Value City Arena in Columbus is set for 6 p.m. and the contest will be televised nationally on ESPN with Rece Davis and Dan Dakich on the call. Thursday’s game is also available online and on mobile devices on the WatchESPN app.

The game will be broadcast across the state of Nebraska on the 37-station IMG Husker Sports Radio Network, including KLIN 1400 AM in Lincoln, 1110 KFAB in Omaha and KRVN 880 AM in Lexington with Kent Pavelka calling the action and Jake Muhleisen adding color commentary. The game can be heard for free on Huskers.com and is available on the Huskers’ app on iOS or android devices, as well as on TuneIn Radio and on SiriusXM Satellite Radio.

Nebraska (13-14, 5-10 Big Ten) put together its poorest effort of the season in a 28-point home loss to Iowa Sunday afternoon. The Huskers allowed Iowa to shoot 50 percent from the floor, as the Hawkeyes became the first team in 38 games to shoot 50 percent from the field against Nebraska. The Hawkeyes put the game out of reach with a 21-2 run to close the first half in taking a 42-16 halftime lead. The loss put Nebraska in a tie for 10th with Minnesota in the Big Ten standings with two weeks left in the regular season. Nebraska has three Big Ten games left, including road trips to Ohio State and Illinois.

If the Huskers are to bounce back in the final two weeks of the regular season, they will need strong performances from Terran Petteway, Shavon Shields and Walter Pitchford. Petteway (18.1 ppg) and Shields (15.7 ppg) have been among the Big Ten’s top eight scorers throughout the season, while Pitchford has gotten into an offensive groove of late, averaging 13.7 points per game in NU’s last three games, including a 19-point effort at Maryland on Feb. 19. Pitchford has come off the bench for the Huskers in the last two contests.

The Huskers face an Ohio State team which is 19-8 overall and 8-6 in the Big Ten following a 64-57 loss at Michigan on Sunday. The Wolverines held D’Angelo Russell to 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting on Sunday, becoming one of the few teams to slow down the talented freshman. The 6-foot-5 freshman guard, averages 19 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game and is one of three Buckeyes who average double figures.

NPCC Lady Knights to Host Central in Region IX Semi-final

Posted on February 25, 2015

The North Platte Community College Lady Knights basketball team will host the Central Community College Lady Raiders in the National Junior College Athletic Association Region IX Division II Semi-Final playoff game on Thursday, February 26 at 6:00 p.m. at McDonald – Belton Gymnasium on the South Campus of North Platte Community College.

The Lady Knights are the No. 2 seed with a 14-13 overall record and 2-2 in Region IX Division II play. The Lady Raiders are 14-13 overall and 0-4 in the region.

The winner of this game will travel to Beatrice, Nebraska to play the Southeast Community College Lady Storm on Monday, March 2. The Lady Storm went a perfect 4-0 in region play to gain the top seed and host the championship game.

The Lady Knights on the year are averaging 61.2 points per game and allowing 59 points per game.

April Stull, a sophomore from Sweeny, Texas leads the Knights in scoring and rebounds. Stull is averaging 15.7 points per game and 8.6 rebounds per game. Stull is seventh on the Lady Knights all-time scoring list with 735 career points.

Aliyah Brown, a sophomore from Omaha Burke High School is averaging 10.5 points per game. Brown leads the team in steals and assists with 88 steals and 49 assists.

The Lady Knights are the two-time defending Region IX Division II champions. They have won the Division II championship five times: 2006-07, 2008-09, 2010-11, 2012-13 and 2013-14.

The Lady Raiders are averaging 79.7 points per game while allowing 80.8 points per game. They are led in scoring by Montrese Weller, who is averaging 15.7 points per game. Adrianna Beck is second on the Lady Raiders with a 15.3 points per game average. Paige Muhammad is the other Lady Raider averaging in double-figures with 10.8 points per game. McKenna Rossmeier and Weller lead the Lady Raiders in rebounding with 5.6 rebounds per game.

The game may be viewed on www.coachesaid.com.