Basketball – Page 74 – North Platte Post Archive

No. 16 Nebraska Defeats Minnesota 80-67

Posted on March 8, 2014

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Jordan Hooper scored 33 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as No. 16 Nebraska beat Minnesota 80-67 in the Big Ten quarterfinals on Friday night.

The third-seeded Cornhuskers will play No. 19 and second-seeded Michigan State on Saturday for a spot in the championship game. During the regular season Nebraska and Michigan State split two contests.

Emily Cady scored 15 points and Rachel Theriot added 14 points and a career-high 18 assists for the Cornhuskers (23-6).

Minnesota (20-12) trailed by just five points after Mikayla Bailey hit a 3 with 6:54 left to play. Cady responded by opening up an 11-0 run — which saw five Cornhuskers score — to give Nebraska a decisive lead that carried through the rest of the game.

Stabresa McDaniel came off the bench to score 14 points for the No.6 seeded Golden Gophers and Rachel Banham added 12.

Area High School Basketball Roundup March 3-8

Posted on March 7, 2014March 7, 2014

Area high school basketball scores for the week of March 3rd through the 8th.

2014 NSAA State Girls Basketball Championships Class D1

Friday, March 7

Girls Basketball

Class D1 State Tournament

No. 2 Friend 42 No. 3 St. Patrick’s 29
The Lady Irish fell in the semifinals to Friend in the Class D1 State Tournament. Anna O’Malley led St. Pat’s with 10 points in the loss. The Lady Irish will now play for 3rd and 4th at Lincoln Southwest High School Saturday at 2:00 pm. They will play the loser of No. 8 Emerson-Hubbard and No. 5 Humphrey St. Francis.

Thursday, March 6

Girls Basketball

Class D1 State Tournament

No. 3 St. Patrick’s 42 No. 6 Sutherland 33
Brittany Lawrence scored a season-high 22 points to lead St. Pat’s to the semifinals with the win over Sutherland. The third-seeded Irish will now play second-seeded Friend in the semifinals Friday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Lady Sailors season came to an end and finished with a 20-6 record.

Tuesday, March 4

Boys Basketball

D1-6 District

St. Patrick’s 60 Hemingford 59
The Irish trailed throughout the first half before tying the game going into the third quarter and eventually coming away with the one-point victory. The win for St. Pat’s secured their berth in the Class D1 State Tournament next week.

Monday, March 3

Boys Basketball

A-1 District

No. 1 Omaha Benson 42 No. 3 North Platte 31
The Dawgs season came to an end at the hands of the No. 1 ranked team in the state, the Omaha Benson Bunnies. North Platte wanted to slow the tempo and keep the game low scoring, which they accomplished until the last 5 minutes of the game. The Dawgs trailed 28-26 with 5:25 left before Benson went on a 14-5 run to win the district and advance to the state tournament. North Platte finishes the year with a 12-14 record.

Freshmen are Making Their Mark Among Big Ten Women

Posted on March 6, 2014

The Big Ten women’s basketball tournament starts Thursday in Indianapolis with four games.

Regular-season co-champions Penn State (22-6) and Michigan State (21-8), along with Nebraska (22-6) and Purdue (21-7), have earned the top four seeds for the second straight year.

Purdue, which has won six straight games, is the two-time defending champion. The Boilermakers have put together their longest win streak of the season, and the longest current streak in the Big Ten, without injured point guard KK Houser.

Northwestern (15-14) plays Ohio State (15-17) in the tournament opener. Other games Thursday match Iowa (23-7) against Illinois (9-20), Michigan (17-12) against Indiana (18-11), and Minnesota (19-11) against Wisconsin (10-18).

Nuggets End Skid by Beating Mavericks 115-110

Posted on March 6, 2014March 6, 2014

DENVER (AP) — Wilson Chandler scored 21 points, Ty Lawson had 20, and the Denver Nuggets snapped a six-game losing streak by beating the Dallas Mavericks 115-110 on Wednesday night.

Kenneth Faried, Randy Foye and J.J. Hickson added 16 points apiece for the Nuggets, who have won all three meetings this season against Dallas. Hickson scored 12 of his points in the fourth quarter to help hold off the Mavericks, who play the Nuggets a final time this season in two weeks in Dallas.

Dirk Nowitzki had 27 points to lead the Mavericks, who lost their third in a row. It’s their first three-game losing streak of the season.

Brandan Wright added 18 points and Vince Carter 17 for Dallas.

Nebraska Holds Off Indiana’s Charge for 70-60 Win

Posted on March 5, 2014

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Walter Pitchford and Shavon Shields each scored 17 points Wednesday, and Nebraska’s defense held off Indiana’s second-half rally for a 70-60 victory.

The Cornhuskers (18-11, 10-7 Big Ten) have won seven of eight and this one strengthened their resume for the NCAA’s selection committee. It’s also the first time in six tries Nebraska has won in Bloomington.

Indiana (17-13, 7-10) was led by Troy Williams with 18 points and Will Sheehey with 13. But it wasn’t enough to avoid a second straight Senior Night loss. Noah Vonleh missed his second straight game with inflammation in his left foot.

The Hoosiers never led, but they had chances after rallying to tie the score at 52 with 10:06 left.

They missed all five shots that would have given them the lead. Nebraska capitalized with a 7-3 run that gave it a 59-55 lead and made it hold up.

NCAA, Conferences are Sued over Scholarship Value

Posted on March 5, 2014

A West Virginia football player is suing the NCAA and five major conferences, alleging they have violated antitrust laws by agreeing to cap the value of an athletic scholarship at less than the actual cost of attendance.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco. Lead attorneys Steve Berman and Bruce Simon also have been involved in cases challenging the NCAA’s ability to sell college athletes’ likeness to video-game makers.

The proposed class-action lawsuit seeks to represent former Football Bowl Subdivision scholarship players who have played since February 2010.

The lawsuit said former West Virginia player Shawne Alston had to take out a $5,500 loan to cover the difference between his scholarship and actual costs of attendance.

Spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said the NCAA had no immediate comment.

St. Pat’s Boys to Play Clearwater/Orchard in Class D1 State Tournament

Posted on March 5, 2014

The NSAA has released the brackets for the 2014 boys basketball State Tournament and St. Pat’s is the No. 2 seed in Class D1.

The Irish won the D1-6 district over Hemingford on Tuesday, 60-59 in overtime, to secure their berth and the No. 2 seed in the state tournament. St. Pat’s has a 24-1 record on the season and hasn’t lost since January 17 when they fell on the road to Overton 62-45. The Eagles of Overton are the No. 4 seed in the D1 tournament.

The Irish’s first round opponent is Clearwater/Orchard. The Cyclones are 21-4 on the season and are riding a five-game winning streak. Their last loss was February 11 to Ewing, 52-46. Clearwater/Orchard won the D1-4 district with a 57-56 win over Sandhills/Thedford.

The boys state tournament starts Thursday, March 13 and runs through Saturday, March 15. The No. 2 Irish and No. 7 Cyclones will meet at 9:00 am Thursday, March 13 in the first round at Lincoln East High School. The first round games of the D1 tournament will all be held at Lincoln East, the semifinals will be played at the Bob Devaney Sports Center and the championship is at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

The Bracket for Class D1 can be seen below and you can click on the link at the bottom of the post to see the brackets for all six classifications.

Boys 2014 NSAA State Basketball Tournament

No. 15 NPCC Knights End Season in Region IX Semifinals, Close Best Two Year Stretch in Program History

Posted on March 5, 2014March 5, 2014

Sterling, CO – The No. 15 North Platte Community College men’s basketball team (27-5, 12-4 South Sub-Region) had their season come to an Tuesday evening in Sterling, Colo. as they fell to the No. 9 Gillette College Pronghorns (29-3, 15-1 North Sub-Region) 86-74 in the Region IX Semifinals.

The Knights finish the year with 27 wins to go along with only five losses. The five losses are the second fewest in a season in Knights history and the 84.4 win percentage also ranks second All-Time. The 27 wins are tied for the 4^th most in program history.

All-Time Win/Loss Records

The appearance in the Region IX Semifinals was the tenth of head coach Kevin O’Connor‘s career. O’Connor currently has 594 wins in his career.

For the first time in program history, the Knights were ranked in every single Top 25 Poll.

NJCAA National Rankings History

The Knights started off the game with Gillette playing tentatively, while the Pronghorns were the aggressor. Gillette would jump out to a lead and maintain it throughout the half despite the best efforts of Cameron Williams and Ethan Montalvo who finished with 14 and 10 points in the half. Lorenzo Bonam paced the Pronghorns with 10 points. The Knights had 11 turnovers in the half compared to only 3 for the Pronghorns as Gillette took a 35-44 lead into intermission.

At the start of the second half, the Knights scored on their first several possessions to immediately cut into the Pronghorns lead. The Knights would never be out of the game until the final minutes as on multiple occasions the lead was cut to only four points. However, the Knights could never get over the hump and make the game any closer than four points despite multiple opportunities.

Late in the game, the Pronghorns were able to stretch their lead off multiple fast break opportunities and from the free throw line. In the game, both teams made 31 field goals and five 3-pointers. The difference in the game came from the free throw line where the Knights only shot 7 of 13 while the Pronghorns shot 19 of 25.

Freshman Cameron Williams led the Knights in scoring as he finished with 24 points while chipping in seven rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Ethan Montalvo finished with 20 points and sophomore Tim Simmons scored 11 and had five assists as the only other Knights in double-figures. Sophomore Jake Maslo led the Knights in rebounds with nine and scored six points.

Muhammed Ahmed scored 15 second half points and finished with 24 to lead the Pronghorns while Lorenzo Bonam scored 21 and Dwight Anderson scored 15. Ahmed and Bonam finished with double-doubles as they both recorded 11 rebounds.

The game was the last in a Knights uniform for sophomores Ethan Montalvo, Tim Simmons, Jake Maslo, Tre’Vaun Hymer, Jimma Lew and Marcus Linson. Hymer joined the program at the semester break of his freshman year.

The sophomores have been a part of the most successful two year stretch in program history as they compiled a 57-11 record during their career, including a Region IX Championship in 2013 and National Tournament appearance. The 57 wins are the most in program history in a two year stretch and the 11 losses are the fewest. The sophomores have never known defeat at McDonald-Belton Gymnasium finishing a perfect 28-0 in their two years which is also a school record.

Montalvo and Simmons will go down as two of the best players in Knights history as they both finished in the Top 50 of the Knights career scoring list.

Montalvo finishes his career with 1,173 points to finish 5^th All-Time and ties Chase Grabau, Ben Wilson and Aboubacar Casse for most games played in a Knights uniform at 68. Montalvo started every single game of his Knights career.

Simmons finishes his career with 700 career points to finish 40^th All-Time to go along with his assignment of guarding the best player every night.

All-Time Scoring List

“I am so proud of our team and the effort that they gave us night in and night out,” said head coach Kevin O’Connor. “We will miss all of sophomores; they were a true representation of what wearing a Knights uniform is all about. They led our program on the court, in the classroom and in the community. They will be unbelievable hard to replace.”

Georgetown Beats No. 13 Creighton 75-63

Posted on March 5, 2014March 5, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) — D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera had 18 points and a career-high 12 rebounds Tuesday night, and Georgetown frustrated Doug McDermott until late in the game, holding off a rally led by the nation’s leading scorer in a 75-63 win over No. 13 Creighton.

Markel Starks added 17 points and 11 assists, and Jabril Trawick had 15 points and seven rebounds for the Hoyas (17-12, 8-9 Big East), who shot 54 percent and advanced their cause as a bubble team for the NCAA tournament. They also still have a chance to be one of the six teams in the overhauled, 10-team Big East to get a bye in next week’s conference tournament.

McDermott scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half, making a series of 3-pointers that helped cut a 16-point deficit to five. He was 3 for 10 from the field in the first half and 9 for 23 for the game, including 4 for 11 from 3-point range.

Nuggets Fortify Defense in Effort to End Skid

Posted on March 5, 2014March 5, 2014

DENVER (AP) — Brian Shaw found himself in a downright defensive mood at practice.

So for nearly two hours Tuesday, the first-year Denver Nuggets coach had his team work on nothing but defense and defense and more defense.

A training camp style of practice as Shaw described it. Anything to get the Nuggets going again.

Because these days, very little seems to be working. Even the return of point guard Ty Lawson on Monday against Minnesota couldn’t snap the Nuggets out of their funk. They’ve now dropped six in a row and 11 of their last 12.