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Bison boys come together for big basketball win at Cozad
Don't be surprised if the Beach Boys hit, "Fun, Fun, Fun" is blaring through the McCook High School boys basketball team locker room this week.
Head coach Tim Garcia is trying to get his team to relax and have fun on the basketball court as the Class B-5 District Tournament is just over the horizon. The Bison had an enjoyable experience in the fourth quarter of last Saturday's contest at Cozad, as McCook pulled away for a 62-52 victory to snap a four-game losing skid.
Unfortunately, Friday's results were not so much fun for the Bison. Grand Island Northwest refused to fold, and the Vikings finally eeked out a 35-34 win over McCook to dampen Senior Night festivities at the Senior High gym.
In both weekend games, the McCook boys could not pull away from either opponent. Saturday against Cozad, the Bison finally found some breathing room by building a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.
"It was a real tough game for three quarters," Coach Garcia said. "Against Cozad we couldn't get any separation. They shot lights out. They played a game like a team in their situation would, with absolutely nothing to lose. They were very, very scrappy. They had a lot of shots falling from the perimeter.
"It was one of those things, where our kids could have very easily said, 'Oh no, here we go again.' But you know what, they stuck with it, they played a great game, and then in the fourth quarter we really separated ourselves. We talked to the kids about not thinking about and not disecting everything so deeply, and just playing the game, and being kids and having fun, and just playing as hard as they can no matter what's happening on the floor."
Garcia said when his team got the 10-point lead in the final period, the team reverted back to top form like it had earlier in the season during a six-game win streak.
"The next thing you know, all those little things that were clicking early in the season started happening again," Garcia said.
Free throws fall in final period
The McCook coach said his team hit just 3 of 8 free throws in the first half. But the Bison finished 22 of 30 at the line for the game.
"We got to the free throw line and hit our free throws in the fourth quarter when it really counted," he said. "We finished off the game really well."
Coach Garcia said he was pleased with how well his players accepted their roles and played together Saturday. He said it was also nice to have senior Tye Smith back in the scoring column. Smith has been battling a back injury. Smith tallied 13 points Saturday.
Garcia also credited senior Nate Crick for a nice job coming off the bench and adding some offensive scoring punch for the bison. Crick led McCook with 14 points. Mark Nichols also had 13 points and Dustin Parde added 11.
After losing all three games on the road a week earlier in the annual East/West Shootout, the Bison were looking to get back on track Friday against Northwest. Garcia said his team held the lead most of the game, but the Vikings kept battling back and finally overtook the Bison late in the game to claim the one-point win.
"We would get up six, seven points and we just could not get any separation," Garcia said. "Grand Island Northwest did a nice job sitting back in their zone. Every time we would get up four, six, seven points, it seemed like we would come down and give up an easy shot, or they would do something nice on offense to get right back in it. We just couldn't even get any definite separation to close out the game."
McCook led 18-17 at intermission and 27-25 after three quarters.
Dustin Parde and Mark Nichols scored 11 points each to lead the Bison Friday.
Players, coaches meet
After Friday night's loss, Garcia said his team members and coaching staff had several soul-searching meetings that paid dividends Saturday -- and hopefully will keep paying dividends for districts.
"The best thing to come out of the Northwest game was it actually brought us together a whole lot closer as a team," Garcia said. "Saturday afternoon resulted in a few meetings with some coaches and players, and more importantly a few meetings with our seniors that they had called and got together. They pretty much said, 'We've got to come together before districts and come together as a team and start preparing and do what we need to do to win basketball games."
Districts up next
McCook is 4-6 in the last 10 games after a 10-4 start, as the Bison take a 14-10 record into the B-5 District at Kearney High School. McCook will likely be the second seed in the six-team district field, with pairing to be announced Tuesday. If the Bison are seeded second, they would have a bye in next Saturday's first-round games, with a semifinal contest looming next Monday, Feb. 29
Adams Central, at 18-3, will be the top seed in the district. Lexington, Northwest, Holdrege and Hastings are the other teams in the B-5 district field.
"We knew from the beginning that our district was going to be close and that our district is wide open," Garcia said. "The only team in our district that has separated themselves in any way is Adams Central."
Garcia's Bison have lost to Northwest and Lexington and beaten Holdrege and Hastings during the regular season.
"The two games that we lost, we just didn't play well," Garcia said. "We didn't play well as a team, we didn't do the things we needed to do to win. We're confident going into districts, but we know we need to win our first-round game.
"We have nothing but opportunity ahead of us."
And hopefully more fun.