The West Point-Beemer Boys Basketball Team lost 52-39 to Oakland-Craig Friday night in an East Husker Conference Tournament Consolation game at Wisner-Pilger before blowing a 10-point 4th quarter lead against Twin River at home Monday night, a game the Cadets lost 35-34. West Point-Beemer then turned around and beat Madison 69-56 at home Tuesday night.
The Cadets led the Knights 8-7 after one. Oakland-Craig took quarter number two 16-11 to take a 23-19 lead into the locker room.
Both teams scored 8 points in the 3rd quarter, and the score was 31-27 at the end of three in favor of the Knights.
Oakland-Craig outscored West Point-Beemer 21-12 in the 4th quarter.
Ben Vander Griend and Blake Anderson totaled 11 points apiece while Jesus Barragan notched 7.
The Cadets led the Titans 12-7 at the end of one, and won the 2nd quarter 9-6 to take a 21-13 lead into the locker room.
West Point-Beemer tripled up Twin River 6-2 in the 3rd quarter to lead 27-15 at the end of three.
The Titans outscored the Cadets 20-7 in the 4th quarter.
Anderson had 12 points while Vander Griend notched 9.
West Point-Beemer held a 17-16 lead on Madison at the end of one, and outscored the Dragons 23-12 in the 2nd quarter to take a 40-28 lead into the locker room.
The Cadets won the 3rd quarter 19-14 to go up 59-42 at the end of three.
Madison won the 4th quarter 14-10.
Anderson powered his way to a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds while Vander Griend chipped in 16 points and 7 rebounds. Zach Vander Griend added 14 points while Keegan Doggett had 12 points and 10 rebounds, good enough for a double-double.
Tough pill to swallow Monday night, but I thought West Point-Beemer did a great job bouncing back Tuesday night.
The Cadets (10-9) take on Oakland-Craig (11-10) in a rematch on the road Friday night.
The Knights lost 61-52 at home to Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family Tuesday night.
I don't think there's any doubt West Point-Beemer is going to need to play a better game on both ends of the floor than they did the first time around against Oakland-Craig.
The Cadets played well until the 4th quarter the first time around so finishing this time around could make the difference for them.
That's really the key to this game for me.
The game could very well come down to the 4th quarter, and if it does West Point-Beemer has to finish strong.
The Cadets can't get tight and nervous, and miss shots and turn the ball over.
Instead, West Point-Beemer has to be loose, confident, and aggressive with the basketball.
The Cadets have to stay calm and just hang in there late in the game if they have a lead or things are close.
West Point-Beemer has to find a way to come through in the clutch.
I thought the rebounding effort was excellent Tuesday night, and look for that to continue Friday night.
The Cadets have to be aggressive, and must want it more than the Knights this time around.
Oakland-Craig earned it the first time, and it will be a tall task to defeat them on their home floor.
It's never easy to beat a team twice in a season when playing so close in the schedule so we'll see what West Point-Beemer can do.
The Knights really got after things on defense in that first matchup specifically.
The Cadets' offense appeared to get back on track Tuesday night though so if they can get their defense going too they should have a chance to win.
There's only a couple of more games left after this one in the regular season for West Point-Beemer so the Cadets have to make a hard push and charge into Sub-Districts.
West Point-Beemer hosts Pierce on Monday and is at Fremont Bergan next Friday in the regular season finale.
The West Point-Beemer Girls Basketball Team won the East Husker Conference Tournament, beating Clarkson/Leigh 54-34 in the Semifinals at Oakland-Craig last Thursday night before defeating the Knights 58-55 in overtime in the Championship Game on Saturday at CCC in Columbus.
West Point-Beemer made nine shots from beyond the perimeter on their way to the win over Clarkson/Leigh.
Sierra Kile led the Cadets with 25 points, including five three pointers, while Andrea Hoffman made a trio of threes on her way to 13 points.
Head Coach Taylor Shepard credits their defense for the win. "All season long we've been relying on our pressure, but we knew that tonight the big difference maker was going to be could we get up and pressure them for 90 feet. And I think we did a great job of that early on, and it really helped us extend that lead out."
West Point-Beemer got off to a quick start on offense against Oakland-Craig, leading 15-9 at the end of the first quarter, and 31-26 at halftime.
Both teams struggled on offense in the third quarter, with the Knights held to just four points, and six for the Cadets.
Oakland-Craig made a strong push in the fourth quarter, scoring 20 points while coming back from a 43-32 deficit.
The Knights led 50-47 with 10 seconds left in the ballgame and West Point-Beemer had possession of the basketball. Kile hit a three pointer from the right wing as time expired to tie the game at 50-50 and force overtime.
The Cadets outscored Oakland-Craig 8-5 in the extra period, and West Point-Beemer went on to win it’s first conference title since 1990.
The ending was not without controversy, however.
Oakland-Craig had the basketball with .9 seconds left, and threw a long inbound pass that was tipped and bounced once before landing out of bounds with .5 seconds left. After meeting at half court, the officials determined that the clocked did not start on time, and there there should not have been any time remaining, and determined that the game was over, preserving the final of 58-55.
Kile had 26 points to lead the Cadets with Sidney Swanson adding 19.
Sports Director Joel Janecek talked to Coach Shepard after the game about the shot that tied the game in regulation. "We knew that we wanted to get Sidney or Sierra a shot, had to get a 3-pointer. And so we drew something up, had an option for Sid, had an option for Sierra, and the girls went out there and created."
Shepard wants her team to keep it up."Yeah our goal's work hard everyday and it's been showing, and I hope to continue that streak here towards the end of the season."
West Point-Beemer then beat Twin River 61-38 at home Monday night, and Madison 50-11 at home Tuesday night.
The Cadets doubled up the Titans 12-6 in the 1st quarter and outscored Twin River 14-6 in the 2nd quarter to take a 26-12 lead into the locker room.
The Titans won the 3rd quarter 14-12 to make it a 38-26 game at the end of three in favor of West Point-Beemer.
The Cadets outscored Twin River 23-12 in the 4th quarter.
Kile had 23 points while Swanson totaled 16 points and 10 assists, good enough for a double-double. Hoffman chipped in 10 points.
The Cadets went up 16-2 on the Dragons at the end of one before outscoring Madison 21-1 in the 2nd quarter to take a 37-3 lead into the locker room.
West Point-Beemer won the 3rd quarter 10-4 to go up 47-7 at the end of three.
The Dragons won the 4th quarter 4-3.
Kile had 14 points while Swanson notched 9.
Great performances from the Cadets each night out.
West Point-Beemer (20-1) caps off the regular season at Oakland-Craig (18-2) Friday night.
Oakland-Craig defeated Fremont Bergan 68-65 at home in overtime Tuesday night.
This figures to be another neck and neck type of ball game.
The Cadets can definitely go in there and win again, but it will be tough and not easy.
You can bet the Knights will be fired up and emotional given what took place on Saturday.
It's also Oakland-Craig's last regular season game so you know the Knights will want to send their seniors out with a win.
It should be a great game and I expect nothing less than an outstanding effort from both teams.
Both of these teams figure to have a great chance to make the State Tournament regardless of how this one turns out.
West Point-Beemer has to want to win of course, but if they lose it's not the end of the world.
The Cadets begin Sub-District play on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. in the same gym against either Tekamah-Herman or Logan View/Scribner-Snyder.
North Bend Central figures to be West Point-Beemer's biggest potential challenge in Sub-Districts.
Don't count out Arlington against the Tigers though as the Eagles beat NBC in the regular season.
Regardless of who wins that game I look for the Cadets to find a way to win their way into Sub-State.
West Point-Beemer has to use this game against Oakland-Craig as preparation for what they could see in Sub-State and potentially the State Tournament.
The Cadets have already won....they won their first conference title in almost 30 years on Saturday.
West Point-Beemer has done such amazing and wonderful things this season, and another win over the Knights would just be gravy.
The most important thing for the Cadets is to win Sub-Districts and a Sub-State game to make the State Tournament.
West Point-Beemer has never made state since the merger, and West Point last made it in 1977, their only ever State Tournament appearance as a matter of fact.
The Cadets are on the cusp of breaking through and making history, now they just need to finish the job.
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