Bison boys second at Topside tourney

GOODLAND, Kan. -- If the McCook boys want to be a strong basketball team this season, the Bison got a great demonstration of what a great team looks like Saturday night in the Topside-Tip-off Tournament championship game.

Ottawa, Kan., ran past the Bison 75-51 in the Goodland, Kan. tournament finals.

"The bottom line is, that's a phenomenal team that we just played, a great team top to bottom," McCook head coach Tim Garcia said of Saturday night's opponent. "The kids were ready for them. I think what a lot of people forget we have one returning varsity starter and we have two other players with what I would consider minimal varsity experience on that floor. (Saturday) night was the first time that they saw a ton of varsity pressure. (Saturday) night's the first time that a lot of those kids saw what a true great varsity high school basketball team looks like."

The Bison fell behind by 20 points in the opening period, then played the Cyclones even the rest of the way.

"I thought we had a nice game plan, we had things ready to go," Coach Garcia said. "But their athleticism, their speed, their quickness, their pressure, we just couldn't handle it. But you've got to credit our kids. We got down big in the first quarter, then we settled in, we made some adjustments. I told our kids, "Just take a deep breath.' The game needed to be a learning experience."

After McCook fell behind by the big margin early, Garcia said his focus shifted to trying to have his Bison improve as a team.

"I thought our kids came together," he said. "They kept working really hard and ended up playing a very respectable basketball game for the remainder of the game."

Connor Larson, McCook's lone returning starter from last season, scored 18 points to lead the Bison Saturday. Dustin Parde added 10 points, with Tye Smith, Nate Crick and Mark Nichols adding 6 points each. Drew Shields had 3 points and Ethan Hardin 2 to round out McCook's scoring Saturday.

Friday victory over Goodland

The Bison advanced to the championship game with a 44-36 semifinal win Friday over Goodland, Kan. McCook opened the tournament Thursday night with a 53-50 overtime win over Wray, Colo.

Coach Garcia said his team bounced back after the tough overtime decision Thursday against the tournament host team that played great, scrappy defense. Goodland won its first game of the season Thursday in a first-round victory over Weskan, Kan.

"I knew they were going to come out and give us their best effort and they did just that," Garcia said of Goodland. "I knew that wasn't going to be an easy game just because of the situation."

Larson led all scorers Friday with 23 points. He also had 5 rebounds and 6 steals. The Bison junior was named to the all-tournament team.

Nichols added 9 points and grabbed a team-high 9 rebounds Friday. Dustin Parde added 6 points, with Ethan Hardin, Shields and Crick chipping in 2 points each.

Holdrege here Saturday

The McCook boys take a 4-1 record in next weekend's tough test. The Bison visit Class A North Platte Friday before Saturday's first home game of the season against arch-rival Holdrege.