The NCHS boys took a pair of season sweeps over the weekend. Both were important wins, as the season is winding down and Lusk needs momentum for the postseason.

Friday night at Dogger Gym Ryan Gilkey opened the early scoring onslaught with a three pointer just over a minute into the game. Teagan Tschacher drilled a pair of treys near the end of the quarter and it was a 20-5 lead for NCHS. Tschacher nailed another early in the second, before the shooting cooled. The Tigers entered halftime with a 29-13 lead.

Lusk continued to advance the lead and Gilkey’s second long bomb came in the middle of a 9-0 run to move the score to 38-20. With just the fourth to play the Tigers lead was 44-24. Jerit Krejci hit an unexpected triple and Alec Penfield put up nine points as the Tigers won handily 62-31.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

NCHS 20 9 15 18  62

LFL 5 8 11 7  31

TEAM STATS

NCHS: 16/33 FG, 6/14 3PT, 12/19 FT, 41 REB, 16 TO, 14 PF

LFL: 11/30 FG, 2/13 3PT, 3/11 FT, 26 REB, 17 TO, 16 PF

NCHS PLAYER STATS: Scoring- Tschacher 13, Gilkey 11, Penfield 11, Bruegger 8, Heil 6, Miller 4, Stone 4, Krejci 3. Rebounds- Heil 8, Bruegger 7, Miller 5. Assists- Miller 5.

On Saturday Burns visited Tiger Gym and came very close to avenging the loss Lusk dealt them last month in Burns. Neither team could find its’ offense, and resulted in some wild shots and scrambles. Jake Heil kept the Tigers in the game with eight of NCHS’s nine points, as both teams struggled to fill the basket. The visitors had a five point lead after one and pushed it to ten as halftime approached. Cole Hart swiped a pass, made the layup and converted the foul toss to get Lusk back within 25-20, and Gilkey sank two freebies to trim the lead to 25-22 at the break.

Tschacher splashed a pair of triples- the first to tie the game at 31 and the second as time wound under a minute for a 35-34 lead. Heil had three key baskets in the final quarter, as the visitors began to foul out. Tschacher coolly sank four free throws and Gilkey three in the final minute-pushing the Tigers to the 51-46 victory.

The sweep over Burns assures NCHS a spot in the 2A East Regionals at EWC Feb. 22-24. Even if the Broncs sweep PB and SE, Lusk would still have the head to head tiebreaker.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

BURNS 14 11 10 11  46

NCHS 9 13 12 17   51

TEAM STATS

BURNS: 16/33 FG, 0/7 3PT, 14/19 FT, 43 REB, 22 TO, 28 PF

NCHS: 14/51 FG, 2/11 3PT, 17/28 FT, 33 REB, 7 TO, 19 PF

NCHS PLAYER STATS: Scoring- Tschacher 15, Heil 14, Gilkey 10, Hart 5, Miller 3, Penfield 2, Stone 2. Rebounds- Miller 10. Assists- Stone 5. Good sportsmanship players of the game: NCHS junior Alec Penfield and Burns soph Keenan Manlove.

The JV beat LFL 24-14 in two quarters but stumbled against Burns 34-22. 

This week the Tigers visit Southeast and need a better showing than the one at Tiger Gym a month ago. JV starts at 4 with varsity at 7 p.m. On Saturday Pine Bluffs visits for three games and Senior Day. The Class of 2018 will be honored before the 4 p.m. tipoff.