The Nemaha Central Middle School Thunder basketball team traveled to Meridian and looked to beat the Jeff West Tigers and improve on the season on Monday, January 17. All the teams wanted to tack on another win, especially the A-teams and the seventh grade B-team to add to their undefeated season.
The eighth-grade A-team’s game started with hot flashes of scoring from both ends. Jeff West scored 10 points in total from buckets under the rim, while the Thunder team scored 14 points from dishing and driving. Second-quarter action started with Jeff West scoring 7 points while NC only scored a fraction of that scoring 2. So, at the end of the first half, Jeff West was up 17-16.
As the second half of the eighth-grade A-game started, both teams looked to try to fish out a win as it was still a close battle. The Tigers were able to score a total of only 4 points in the third quarter. The Thunder team responded by adding 8 points of their own. As the fourth quarter awaited, the score was 24-21 with a Thunder lead. The game was tight throughout the whole fourth quarter. With a couple of seconds left to go in the game, the Tigers were down by 3 points and needed a three to tie the game. So the Tigers tried to shoot a three but missed and a Thunder player rebounded. The time expired and the Thunder team celebrated the close win with a score of, 30-27.
Carter Hajek said, “It was a good win against a great team.”
The next game after the close battle was the eighth-grade B-team game. The game started with the Thunder coming out hot and scoring 13 points in the first quarter, while the Tigers only managed to score 4 points. The next quarter saw the tables completely turn as the Thunder only scored 2 points and Jeff West scored 14. At the end of the first half, the score was 15-18 with Jeff West leading the game.
The second half of the game saw the Thunder shoot more outside shots and rack up 8 points in total, while Jeff West scored only 4 points. The fourth quarter showed the endurance of both teams with the Thunder scoring 5 points and Jeff West scoring 3. The final score was 28-25 with another close Thunder victory.
As these games were happening the seventh grade A-team was playing pretty well scoring 7 points in the first quarter, but Jeff West was trailing by 2 only scoring 5 points. The second quarter saw the Tigers scoring no points while letting the Thunder team score 6 points. At the end of the first half, the score was 13-5 Thunder.
As Jeff West tried to find a way to come back after a disappointing no score in the second quarter, the Thunder came out with a surge of energy and scored 13 points in the third quarter. Jeff West only managed to weasel out 5 points in the third quarter. The fourth quarter started and again the Tigers only scored 5 points, while the Thunder put up 6 points to make the final score 32-15 adding another Thunder win on the night.
“This was our hardest game yet and they are very good competition,” said Kyler Ganstorm.
The last game of the night was the seventh-grade B-team game. It started off with the Thunder scoring 2 two-pointers and Jeff West scoring 2 threes to make the score 4-6. The second quarter of the game was back and forth with NC scoring 8 points and Jeff West scoring 2 points. The score was 12-8 with the Thunder taking over the lead to end the first half.
The second half saw similar things with the Thunder team scoring 10 points and the Tigers coming back scoring 8 points. So to start the fourth quarter the score was 22-16. NC came out and held the Tigers to only 4 points while scoring 7 points to make the final score 29-20 and adding the final NC win of the night.
These wins gave the Thunder a clean sweep over tough Jeff West teams. NC looked pretty good, working hard to jump over a high hurdle with Jeff West. The Thunder were excited with the results and will continue to work hard for a great season.
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