Bruning-Davenport/Shickley basketball coach Fred Kluck joked that his boys basketball team had gone through the state tournament already even though it doesn’t start until Thursday.
Kluck’s Eagles defeated eighth-ranked Deshler (18-6), fifth-ranked Heartland (21-3) and seventh-ranked Nebraska City Lourdes (20-7) in sub-district and district play to advance to the 2015 Boys State Basketball Tournament that begins at four sites in Lincoln on Thursday.
“It was a tough row to hoe,” Kluck said. “I think that was probably about as tough of a road as anyone had, so you hope that would help you a little bit. One of the things in basketball you work not to do is to play your best early.
“We wanted to be playing our best basketball in the district and then hopefully have it carry over to the state tournament.”
The Eagles are ranked second by the Omaha World-Herald heading into state, and although they are the top-seed based off NSAA power points, they are on the same side of the bracket as top-ranked Clearwater/Orchard (28-1) and fourth-ranked Humphrey St. Francis (21-4). The top-six ranked teams have qualified for the tournament.
The other half of the bracket features third-ranked High Plains (23-2), Heartland and sixth-ranked Amherst (23-3). Bloomfield (18-7) is ranked ninth and will play Heartland in round one, while the Eagles face unranked Sutherland (11-13). Kluck said the Sailors have BDS’ full attention.
“You look at their schedule,” the coach said, “And, they have played really well of late. They have won nine of their past 12 games, they had a player (Kaden Copeland) score 44 points in the sub-district final. We’ll need to be ready.”
Kluck said the Eagles have been one of his rare teams that can play multiple players without much let down. BDS has a 10-man rotation of five seniors, four juniors and a sophomore. Senior Grant Norder (11 points, 6.5 rebounds) and junior Riley Tegtmeier (12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists) were named all-conference.
“Riley and Grant are kind of our go-to guys, I think,” Kluck said. “But, its been great to be able to play as many guys as we have. All ten of the guys in our rotation have played well for us this year. It’s a luxury in Class D basketball.”
Just down the road, Crossroads Conference mate Exeter-Milligan, is preparing for a daunting D2 field as well. Seven of the eight teams in the state field are 1-7 in NSAA power points. The Wolves, following a district final loss to Falls City Sacred Heart, earned one of the wild cards. The other was their opponent, Wilcox-Hildreth, who lost to Riverside in the district final.
“Last year, the guys lost a close game in the first round to High Plains,” Exeter-Milligan coach Dean Filipi said. “I think this year, they have a focus and they want to play well. They have been working real hard in practice.”
The Timberwolves, who have been to state just twice since consolidating in 2010 and last year, have not won a state tournament game. Exeter was the 1986 Class D1 champion. In Wilcox-Hildreth, the Wolves will get a formidable foe at 23-2 and ranked sixth. E-M will head to state ranked third in D2.
“They’ll be a big challenge for us,” Filipi said. “Anytime you have four guys that score in double figures, you’ll be tough to defend. They had one of those guys missing in the district final.”
Junior Tristan Fairchild leads the Falcons with a double-double average of 10.8 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. Matthew Hinrichs, Marshall Jelden and Ivan Damit-Og also average in double figures.
“We’ll just have to play the way we are capable of playing,” Filipi said. “I think that second half against Falls City Sacred Heart, we didn’t play very well. That was a little bit of us and a little bit of them.”
Senior Derek Luzum has done the heavy lifting the E-M this year with a 17.5 points and 8.9 rebounds per game average. Senior guard Kyle Jensen has averaged 14.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and also leads the team in assists with 71.
Striv coverage will open up on Thursday with the BDS, Sutherland game at 9:00 AM from Lincoln Southeast. It will continue at 2:00 and 3:45 with both of the other D1 quarterfinals with Heartland, Bloomfield in the first game and High Plains and Amherst in the second.
In D2 both the Exeter-Milligan, Wilcox-Hildreth game (10:45) and the Riverside, Falls City Sacred Heart game (8:45) will have live audio. In Class C2, we’ll have Southern Valley against Fremont Bergan at 3:45. Coverage of Millard West and Creighton Prep will be 7:00 Thursday night from Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Click here to view the Striv SchoolsBoys State Hoops Bracket Tracker.
