The Nemaha Central boys were taking part in an A-team tournament in Sabetha on Saturday, February 8. The boys were coming off a win on Thursday and were looking to continue their winning ways.
The eighth grade boys would play their first game against Atchison. The Thunder would start off hot, scoring 14 points. Atchison would score some points as well, having 8 at the end of the first. The Thunder would continue to play well, scoring 7 points and allowing only 4 points in the second quarter. Going into halftime, the Thunder team was up 21-12.
Atchison would not go away scoring 11 points in the third quarter. The Thunder would struggle to score on offense as they would only score 6 points. Atchison would hit some more threes, having 6 of them in the second half. They would score 13 points in the fourth. The Thunder scored 9 points, and the two teams would go into overtime, at 36-36.
The Thunder would not do much in overtime only scoring 2 points. Atchison would score 6 points and take the win, 42-38. The game was a good learning game for the Thunder, even with the loss.
“It was a tough loss and I know we can do better,” said Josh Gonzalez.
After losing, the Thunder boys were ready to dominate their next opponent. The Thunder would play Marysville and do as they planned. The Thunder would come out with a blast scoring 22 points in the first quarter and only allowing Marysville 2. Marysville wouldn’t score any points in the next quarter, but the Thunder would score 15 points leading to a halftime score of 37-2.
The Thunder would continue to play well scoring 14 points coming out of halftime. The Bulldogs would finally get some more points on the scoreboard, getting 5 points. The Bulldogs would score 5 points in the fourth quarter as well, and the Thunder would get 8. The final score of the game was 59-12, a dominant Thunder victory.
“We played amazing in all four quarters,” said Holden Bass.
In the end, the Thunder would finish the tournament with one win and one loss.
Click the link below for more pictures from the tournament.