Bison boys fight off Colby in overtime

COLBY, Kan. -- The McCook High School boys basketball team outscored Colby 12-4 in overtime Tuesday night and claimed an 85-77 overtime victory over the host Eagles.

The Bison, winners of four straight games, withstood a 40-point, 14-rebound effort by Colby's Trey Barnett.

He made 13-of-17 field goals, including 4-of-6 3-pointers, and 10-of-10 free throws.

Five Bison scored in double figures, led by Garrett Rippen with 19 points. Rippen scored 5 points in overtime and made 7-of-8 free throws for the Bison, who improved to 6-6.

Four players scored 12 points each -- Joel Putz, Tony Purvis, Brandon Crick and Joel Arterburn. Putz sunk four 3-pointers, Rippen two and Purvis two. Purvis also had 5 points in overtime and Arterburn 2.

Josh Cherry and John Swanhorst each scored 6 points, Cory Gaston 4 and Brandon Kotschwar 2.

Arterburn had 7 rebounds, Purvis 5 and Crick 5. Purvis also had 5 assists.

Nick Howard added 13 points for the Eagles, who dropped to 0-9.

"We started the game out well, playing tough defense and hitting some big shots," said McCook boys coach Tim Garcia. "But our intensity slipped throughout the game, allowing Colby to get back into it.

"The overtime period was all McCook. We found our desire to win and stepped up to the challenge. I'm very proud of our players for their effort in overtime. We scored a lot of people behind a balanced attack, with all five starters scoring in double figures."

The McCook boys will play a road game at North Platte Friday. Tip-off is 7:45 p.m.

Colby girls 58,

McCook 56

The Colby girls improved to 8-1 with a 58-56 victory over the McCook girls Tuesday night at Colby. McCook dropped to 4-8.

Colby outscored McCook 24-19 in the second quarter and 12-8 in the fourth period.

"We played a solid basketball game for 28 of 32 minutes," said McCook girls coach Barry Schaeffer.

"In the last two minutes of each half, we allowed Colby to stay in or win the game. The girls played one of their better overall games tonight. We need to learn our lessons from this one and not let it happen again."

Allison Smith led McCook with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Taryn Placzek added 15 points, 3 rebounds and 1 steal.

Jillian Bryant contributed 9 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals.

Kayla Wilson had 7 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist. Jessica Harris had 3 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists.

Andrea Soden had 2 points, 1 rebound and 5 assists. Betsy Kohmetscher had 2 points, 1 rebound, 3 assists and 1 steal.

Lissa Mazenac led Colby with 25 points and 8 rebounds. Ashley Barnes and Jessica Stephens each had 8 points. Zanea Baird had 7 points. Paige Stephens had 5 points and 7 rebounds.

"Looking at the stats, we needed to do a better job on our defensive rebounds and not allow them to get the second-chance opportunities. We did a better job on turnovers tonight, but we still had some at key points of the game.

"We also tended to get in a hurry and take a quicker shot than we needed to toward the end of the game. But overall I felt we had one of our best nights executing the offense.

"I believe if we continue to improve as we did tonight, we will find ourselves on the other side of the outcome when faced with a similar situation."

The McCook girls play at Cozad Thursday (7 p.m.) and host Hastings Friday (7:45 p.m.).

McCook JV

boys 65,

Colby 30

The McCook junior varsity boys fired in 6-of-7 3-pointers in the third quarter and outscored the Colby JV 25-12 en route to a 65-30 rout Tuesday night at Colby.

McCook made nine 3-pointers, including three each by Eric Rippen and Brett Burton. Cory Gaston had two treys and Chance Unger one.

Rippen scored 8 of his game-high 11 points in the third quarter.

Burton finished with 9 points, Josh Cherry 7, John Swanhorst 7, Gaston 6, Unger 4, Chris Stull 4, Brady Dame 3, Kendall Foster 2, J.D. Stone 2 and Nate Berry 2.

Levi Schlick led Colby with 8 points and Tison Miller added 7.

Colby JV

girls 63,

McCook 51

The McCook JV girls lost to Colby 63-51 Tuesday night at Colby.

Melissa Lyster led the Bison with 14 points, 2 rebounds and 3 steals. Kelsee Meissner added 12 points.

Amy Beckenhauer added 7 points, 3 rebounds and 3 steals. Austin Wilson had 7 points and 6 assists.

Michelle McKenna had 7 points. Ashley Carfield had 3 assists and 3 rebounds.

McCook made 7-of-10 3-pointers, led by Lyster's 4-for-4 effort.

"We need to play with intensity throughout the whole game," said McCook JV girls coach Robin Heinrichs. "We gave up too many offensive rebounds."

McCook frosh

boys 58,

Colby 18

The McCook High School freshman boys basketball team ripped Colby 58-18 Tuesday and improved to 4-0.

McCook outscored Colby 21-4 in the second quarter, 6-1 in the third and 18-6 in the fourth.

Zach Wieser and Ryan Hardin each scored 11 points for the Bison, followed by Jeff Lorentz with 10.

Matt Berry scored 6 points, followed by Michael Grabowski 4, Seth Schaeffer 4, Aaron Ruppert 4, Austin Larson 2, Taylor Garcia 2, Jake Curl 2 and Adam Kruger 2.

Zhe Du led Colby with 9 points.

"Defensively we created turnovers and transition points all night long," said McCook freshman boys coach Bill Beckenhauer. "Colby did a nice job with their halfcourt defense, but we had numerous opportunities in transition.

"The boys did a good job overall. The only negative to the game was the trouble we had with layups."

McCook plays Thursday at Ogallala.

McCook frosh

girls 34,

Colby 7

The McCook High School freshman girls picked up a 34-7 win in a two-quarter game against Colby Tuesday night.

The Bison were led in scoring by Ashley Palic with 6 points and six others scored 4 points each.

Danae McCorkle's 4 steals led the team and Sydney Jumps led with 4 rebounds.

"Overall, I was pleased with how the girls played," said McCook freshman girls coach Jon Graff. "They came out early, established dominance, and played their game. We did a better job on the press tonight and improved our transition game."