Plainsmen go into Christmas break at 5-2

The Plainsmen’s perfect 5-0 start to the season came to an end Saturday, with a 65-42 loss own their home court to Dundy County Stratton.

On Monday, they suffered a second loss on their own court, falling to Hyannis 59-45 the first round of the Plainsmen Booster Holiday Tournament.

The Plainsmen will be off now until they resume action against North Platte St. Pat’s on Jan. 7.  

They would have played in the third-place game of the booster tournament but Creek Valley’s boys forfeited both of their games due to sickness. 

That left Wallace and Hyannis vying for the championship title. 

Last week, the Plainsmen picked up wins against Paxton, 53-44, on Dec. 14 and at Garden County, 67-57, on Dec. 16.

Coach Coy Gager was pleased with the pair of wins that keep his team’s record perfect in their first five starts. That run ended Saturday night against the Dundy County Stratton Tigers, who came into the contest on a five-game winning streak.

Gager said his team simply got outplayed by DCS. They were able to hang with the Tigers for a quarter but got outscored by 10 during the second.

They closed the gap some in the third but couldn’t scratch their way back, scoring just six in the final quarter.

That’s similar to what happened to the Plainsmen Monday against Hyannis. 

The Plainsmen held a 13-12 lead after the first eight minutes but went into halftime down five, 28-23.

Monday it was the third quarter where they had trouble scoring, putting just seven points while Hyannis scored 15 to build a 13-point, 43-30 lead over the Plainsment. 

Midway in the fourth, sophomore Blake Garaner dropped a trey to pull the Plainsmen back within seven, 38-45. Hyannis answered with a basket underneath, a trey and a free throw to reopen the margin to 13.

    The Plainsmen tried to shoot themselves back in it from outside the arc but couldn’t get shots to fall. They did get the margin down to 10 but that would be the closest they could come in the final three minutes, falling 59-45. 

Paxton

Both teams put up 13 in the first frame but it was the Plainsmen that built a seven-point advantage in the second. 

Triston Hit hit a pair of treys, Hunter Garner added one more and Nolan Foster hit a pair of buckets. The gave the Plainsmen a 28-21 at half. 

    Paxton trimmed the lead down to five but the Plainsmen gave up just eight points in the fourth en route to the 53-44 win. 

    The Plainsmen went 6-9 at the line in the final period to clinch the win. 

Hite led the team with 17, Garner 16 with Hayden Foster adding 11. 

Garden County

The Plainsmen turned in a big second half to come away with the win after trailing by four at half, 23-27. 

    In the third, the Plainsmen puit up as many point in the quarter as they did the whole first half. 

Hunter Garner hit a pair of treys, brother Blake hit a trey and a deuce and Hayden Foster added 10, including a 4-5 effort from the charity stripe. 

That gave the Plainsmen a 46-41 going into the final eight minutes. 

    Blake Garner scored 10 of the team’s 21 points while holding GC to 16 to secure the win. 

In the fourth, the Plainsmen ‘s free throw shooting proved big, going 7-8, for the 67-57 win.

Fostger led the scoring with 19, including a 9-11 effort at the line. Blake Garner added 17 with Hunter Garner finishing with 12. 

Dundy County Stratton

The second and fourth quarters proved to be the Plainsmen’s undoing against DCS Saturday. They were only able to put six points in each of the two quarters.

After falling behind 32-21 at half, the Plainsmen put 15 on the board in the third to pull within eight, 44-36, going into the final quarter.

DCS opened the fourth with a trey and added six more field goals and four free throws to put the game away. 

    Blake Garner was the only Plainsmen to finish in double figures with 11.