Big-boy showdowns tonight at Benkelman, other sites

Southwest senior Cole Barnett (10) gets a hand on this basketball, but no one could stop Dundy County-Stratton senior Andrew Englot (3) from hitting 10 of 12 shots Tusday night at Benkelman.

Steve Towery/McCook Gazette

BENKELMAN, Neb. — While Class D-1 No. 1 and No. 2 collide at North Platte tonight, Dundy County-Stratton coach Kris Freeland knows his Tigers face their own tough D1-11 finals test.

“Hitchcock County will be a tough opponent,” Freeland remarked about the No. 2-seed Falcons who meet his Tigers at 6:30 p.m. central time. “ They played very well against Cambridge on Tuesday and shot the ball extremely well.

“(Trent)Kisker is a tough play in the post and (Keynan) Gaston and (Drew) Scott are shooting extremely well from outside,” he added. “(Mason) Schilke and (Jaxon) Unrein have really stepped up to give them a solid starting five. We are definitely going to have to step it up and play our best basketball of the season.”

Hitchcock County senior Drew Scott (right) draws a Cambridge Trojan off his feet in the D1-11 subdistrict semifinals Tuesday night.

Steve Towery/McCook Gazette

The athletes certainly know each other well during recent years.

Hitchcock County dominated last fall’s football meeting en route to the D-1 state championship.

Yet DC-S has ruled their two basketball conflicts in 2022-23.

The No. 1 host Tigers snatched win No. 20 (20-4 record) while avoiding a repeat of an almost upset against Southwest earlier this month.

Senior Andrew Englot’s 23 points powered the 73-43 DC-S victory after winning just 49-47 over those No. 5-seed Roughriders (7-13 final record) on Feb. 1.

Englot made 10 of his 12 field-goal attempts.Junior Jackson Kerchal drove to another 17 points.

Senior Corbin Horner totaled 10 points, six assists, six rebounds and six steals.

Hunter Cunningham scored 12 points in his final Roughrider basketball game.

Junior Nathan Rippe and freshman Krayton Ruggles netted seven points each.

Other Southwest scoring leaders were seniors Zach Ryan (five points), Kaiden Ruggles (five) and young force Hunter Blume (four).

No. 3 Hitchcock County (13-9) knocked out No. 3 Cambridge, 65-36. The Trojans finish their season at 11-13 overall.

Freshman Brady Ahlemeyer finished with nine points as he hit three of four shots. Junior Carson Trompke also dropped in nine.

Senior Will Taylor added eight points. Leading Trojan rebounders were junior Ben Hobarty with six, Taylor’s five and another five from junior Brohdy Wood.