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McCook boys drive past Dusters in double OT
HOLDREGE, Neb. — Don’t start a holiday fight with G.G. and K.J. is something that echoed through Holdrege High School Saturday evening.
In fact, exchanging big shots with these McCook Bison could really hurt all season long.
“Man, we’re fighters, that’s what I can say about this team,” sophomore Gabe Gans said following McCook’s 89-79 double-overtime win over the rival Holdrege Dusters.
The Dusters (3-3 record) unleashed a 25-point first quarter while building leads as large as 16 points.
Top scorer Jackson Hinrichs burned the Bison for a game-best 34 points before he went cold late.
Yet McCook (6-1) never flinched with Gans, senior Evan Humphrey and junior Keagan Johnson combining to score 58.
“We fight, it doesn’t matter who’s on the floor. We all wanna play,” Gans proclaimed. “We all wanna win. That’s the mentality we have.”
Nothing showed this mentality than when Holdrege broke away again to lead 70-63 under the two-minute mark in regulation.
Johnson simply stepped up to go “boom and BOOM” while making it 70-69.
Moments later, senior Beau Bieker one clutch free throw and overtime had arrived at 70-70.
But wait a second!
The Dusters threw one more haymaker when they took another lead of 76-70.
Johnson delivered again — though it was only a two-point shot and the new McCook marksman missed his next shot.
There was Gans waiting like he was about to greet Santa at the bottom of a chimney.
He snatched the carom and quickly scored inside again to make it 76-74.
Now it was 5’5” guard Jacob Gomez-Wilson’s turn for some holiday magic.
Nothing magical, really, because JG-W has been speeding past Dusters or any opponents for almost four years now.
Just call him BMW. He drove into the lane and rather thank “kick out” a pass for the potential wing three, he banked in a shot before anyone could react.
The lay-up led to a 76-76 through one OT.
Holdrege was essentially out of gas.
Tied 78-78, season-scoring leader Humphrey took the driver’s wheel for those final four minutes.
Once Humphrey hit a contested three, it was 81-78 and the Dusters never responded again.
McCook finished on an 11-1 run featuring six more Evan points.
They also reached 6-1 going into the holiday break.
McCook’s boys and girls will not play another game until Jan. 3 when Broken Bow visits the MHS gym.
“Break? I won’t take any breaks,” G.G. declared. “We gotta keep going. We all got to be ready. No doubt we’ll all put in the time and get their work done.”
“We just have to start a little stronger,” Gans added. “That’s going to be a big thing the rest of the season.”
Bieker and junior Mitchel Cole both added seven key points for the Bison Saturday night.
Gomez-Wilson hit one of nine Bison three-pointers to go with seven assists, six rebounds and 10 points overall.
Watch for more on mccookgazette.com throughout this season.