In a battle of two northeast Nebraska top 10 teams the Ewing Tigers were able to prevail over the St. Mary's Cardinals at home Thursday night with an impressive 59-29 victory. With the win the Tigers move to 8-1 on the season while the Cardinals fall to 7-3. The Tigers came out of the locker room firing on all cylinders as they were able to use a great defense and efficient offense to build up a 14 point lead after one quarter of play. Brett Kaczor and Mike Harpster helped the Tigers get off to their fast start with six first quarter points each. Harpster continued his impressive play in the second stanza by firing in 10 more points to tally 16 in the first half alone. Great team passing by the Tigers allowed them to build up the 35-18 lead at halftime.
The third quarter saw both teams struggle offensively as the Tigers were only able to muster nine points, but their defense was able to hold St. Mary's scoreless for the first seven minutes before a Jesse Reiman bucket broke the ice for the Cardinals in the third quarter. The Tigers outscored the Card's 15-9 in the fourth quarter to come away with the 30-point margin of victory.
The Tigers were led in scoring on the night by 19 from Mike Harpster and 10 from Ryan Thramer, while Brock Kaczor chipped in with eight. Brett Kaczor, Mike Harpster, and Ryan Thramer each pulled down. seven rebounds for the Tigers, while Brock Kaczor added five. Assists were led by Thramer with eight and Brett Kaczor with four. Kaczor and Harpster each had four steals for the Tigers.
Ewing shot 21-32, (66%) from two- point land while St. Mary's was 9-24 (38%). The Tigers hit 2-9 (22%) three-pointers and St. Mary's was 0-10 (0%). Ewing outrebounded the Cardinals 35-17 with 10 offensive and 25 defensive, while St. Mary's had six and 11 respectively. The Tigers committed 25 turnovers to 29 for St. Mary's.
"This was a very good win for our team over a quality opponent like St. Mary's. I was very pleased in the way we came out of the locker room to start both the first and third quarters. Our team had great intensity on defense and great chemistry on offense. We also did a great job on the boards in keeping Jesse Reiman in check as he is just an outstanding player on the glass. I thought our defense was the key to the ballgame as we were able to really shut down a St. Mary's offense that had been putting some points on the board in recent games. We created turnovers and were able to convert those turnovers into points and put St. Mary's in a position where they had to fight from behind for the entire game and our kids did a great job of building upon the lead throughout the ballgame. That will be huge as we progress throughout the remainder of our schedule," said Coach Appleby.
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Final
EHS
20
15
9
15
59
SMH
6
12
2
9
29
The Tiger junior varsity remained undefeated at 8-0 with a 50-41 win over the previously unbeaten Cardinals. The Tigers only led by one going into the fourth quarter but were able to outscore the. Cardinals 17-9 to come away with the victory. Trevor Switzer led the Tigers with 11 paints and Bradley V'righi chipped in 10. Nic Thramer pulled down seven rebounds and Trevor Switzer added six. Craig Flenniken dished out four assists and Bobby Wood added three. Wood also knocked down three threepointers and Travis Schrunk knocked down two.