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Bison boys get one win in home Shootout weekend
Saturday afternoon was gut-check time for the McCook High School boys basketball team.
The Bison had lost two home games in the annual East-West Shootout, including a 56-50 setback to Gering Friday, Feb. 11. Alliance came to the Bison gym fresh off a Shootout victory at Lexington Friday night and a chance to even its season record at 10-10 with a win over McCook.
The Bison boys pulled away in the final period Feb. 12 for a crucial 65-56 win over the Bulldogs.
McCook led 32-31 at halftime, but Alliance came back to take a 42-38 lead midway through the third period as the Bulldogs hit three shots from 3-point range. Drew Shields hit consecutive baskets to help the Bison regain the lead for good. Shields scored twice on offensive put-backs to give McCook a 44-42 lead with 3:15 left in the period. McCook led 48-44 at the end of the quarter.
The Bison took control with six straight points early in the final period on baskets by Matt Chitwood, Keith Wallace and Connor Larson. Sean Backer's 3-pointer from the corner and a bucket by Larson boosted the hosts to a 12-point lead in the final minutes.
McCook head coach Tim Garcia was pleased that his team bounced back after Friday's tough loss.
"Alliance is a nice quality team with good perimeter players that can hit 'threes' and a big kid inside that's tough to handle," Garcia said. "But you have to give our kids a lot of credit -- they bounced back, they responded from the adversity of last night's game. It was very disappointing (Friday) night.
"One of the things we talked about coming into (Saturday's) game was just unifying ourselves, coming back together as a team, doing what's best for our team, playing with passion for four solid quarters.
"As I look back at this game, I really believe this was one of our most complete, four-quarter games that's we've played all season."
McCook inside defense
Alliance featured 6-foot-6 senior Nathan Griess, a tall task for the Bison who have no starters over 6-2. Griess scored 12 points Saturday, but just three points in the second half.
Garcia said assistant coach Curt Swanhorst gets credit for his work preparing the Bison defense to battle in the paint, and the McCook players also drew Garcia's praise for their hard work.
"We've been mixing it up this season trying to figure out a way for our kids to be successful, being undersized and guarding quality post players," Garcia said. "They are giving up eight inches in height out there. It's one of those things where you can just see that our post defense has gotten some confidence. They have a better understanding of the expectations placed upon them and how to play it, the technique that they need to be using, and more importantly probably, why they are playing it that way. You have to credit our other kids around them for helping them as well. They understand that we have to help those guys out.
"I thought our defense played really well, aside from a couple of uncontested outside shots. Overall I'm very pleased with our defense tonight."
Chitwood and Larson each scored 16 points Saturday to pace the Bison. Kyle Gaston added 11 points for McCook.
Killer turnovers Friday
Turnovers were a killer in Friday night's loss to Gering. Garcia said his team committed 23 miscues against the Bulldogs.
"Against Gering, that's a team we now know we can beat, there's no doubt about it," he said. "We had 10-point leads on them a couple different times during the game. We just fell apart during the end of the game with those 23 turnovers. You're not going to beat very many teams with 23 turnovers, especially quality teams."
McCook used a scoring spurt midway through the second quarter Friday to help take a 28-21 lead at intermission. Connor Larson scored five points and Kyle Gaston had two baskets in an 11-0 Bison run.
Cody Wudtke's shot from the lane put McCook ahead, 36-26, halfway through the third period. But Gering came back and cut the gap to 41-40 at the end of the period.
Gering's 8-0 run in the final quarter put the Bulldogs ahead 51-43 with just over two minutes left. Larson hit a deep 3-pointer with 90 seconds left to pull the Bison within 52-48.
The teams traded baskets, with Wudtke's basket with 38 seconds left getting the Bison within 54-50. After a Gering turnover, McCook gave the ball right back, with Gering scoring off the steal for the final margin.
Larson scored 13 points and Wudtke added 10 points for the Bison Friday night.
Two more games before districts
McCook has a 13-8 overall record after the 1-2 Shootout weekend with a pair of regular-season contests left next weekend in advance of the Class B-6 District Tournament.
McCook visits Grand Island Northwest Friday, Feb. 18, and entertains Cozad Saturday, Feb. 19.
The Bison are currently third in the B-6 District power point standings. If those standings remain, McCook would be the third seed in districts and would likely draw a rematch with Gering in the semifinals Feb. 28 in Scottsbluff.
"Our goal is to keep number three position and stay out of the bunny bracket game," Coach Garcia said.