The Nemaha Central Middle School Thunder boys basketball team started their season by taking a road trip to Elwood, Kansas to face the Riverside Cyclones. They had only 2 weeks to prepare themselves for the game, but they nevertheless headed in with hopes of winning. They all knew that it was going to be a battle since it was their first game of the season.
The 7th grade Thunder team roster consists of Layton Thomas, Carter Hajek, Jack Macke, Eli Sudbeck, Jayden Seitz, Jordan Lewis, Bob Langill, Cameron Strathman, Cole Lyons, Daniel Childress, and Hendryx Wahl. The 8th grade Thunder team roster is made up of Kaden Peterson, Dayton Nelson, Logan Kraisinger, Kason Saenz, Abram Keim, Collin Jost, Spencer Lockart, and Luis Lambrecht. The team is coached by Schuyler Mayberry, Todd Krause, and Cory Bass. The managers are Conner Lueger, Brady Koch, Kyler Ganstrom, and Will Young.
The 7th grade was up first as they took the court with high hopes of starting their season strong. Due to Covid, there was no tip-off and the Thunder had possession of the ball first. The first quarter was quite a battle. Between defense and offense, the game seemed to nudge neither way. As the quarter came to a close, the Thunder found themselves trailing the Cyclones 6-7. They came out in the second quarter hoping to change the tide of the game and earn some momentum before the half, but things didn’t go as planned for the Thunder. Riverside brought their lead to 6 points, 18-12 assisted by a triplet of threes in the quarter.
The Thunder headed into the locker room during halftime hoping to fix some spots in their game and take the lead in the third quarter. That, however, was not the case. The Thunder narrowed the lead slightly and heading into the fourth quarter the Thunder were trailing 24-20. The Thunder finally got things kicked into gear in the fourth quarter. They held the Cyclones offense to 0 points throughout the quarter. They also managed to put up 8 points to win the game with a score of 28-24.
The next game up was the 8th grade. In their season last year, the Thunder team swept Riverside beating them once by only 1 point. The Thunder boys came out of the huddle with the ball first. The first quarter went pretty well for the Thunder as they scored 10 points and held Riverside to 2, leaving the score 10-2 heading into the second quarter. In the second, their offense was still in gear but Riverside started finding holes in the Thunder defense. After the second quarter, the Thunder ran into the locker room leading 23-11.
The Thunder team came out in the third quarter with yet another high scoring quarter. By the end of the quarter, the Thunder had added another 11 points to their lead and the score sat at 34-18 going into the final quarter of the game. The final quarter was a match of defenses as there were only 5 points scored in total. The game came to a close with the Thunder winning 37-20.
The combined 7th and 8th-grade B-team game was a fun one. Those players who didn’t get much playing time in the earlier games got to take a shot at the opposing team to try to finish the sweep on the night. The game started off slow in the first quarter with both teams not scoring much. The score heading into the second was the Thunder leading by 2 with a score of 4-2. In the second quarter, the Thunder offense picked up and they started putting up more points on the scoreboard. At the end of the second, the score was 16-7.
In the third quarter, the Thunder team was able to grow their lead even more. They came out and scored 9 while holding the Cyclones scoreless. The score going into the fourth quarter was 25-7. The Cyclones put on a show of offense in the fourth quarter and also held the Thunder scoreless. The score was 25-25 which meant the game was headed into overtime. In overtime, the Thunder team was able to get fouled multiple times and they were able to make enough free throws to win the game with a score of 30-28.
The Thunder teams were able to start their season off very strong as they were able to head into Riverside and get the sweep. The Thunder headed home with their heads high as they looked forward to playing more games this season.
Click the link below for more pictures.