The Superior Express -

New Year . . . new sport . . . new game . . .

Ya, the Nebraska high school winter sports season began last weekend and yes, all three statements are true. The first two are obvious, but the last one "new game" is special for the Raider boys' basketball team.

This reporter has seen a lot of "season first games," but this one seemed special in some ways. It was not a timid beginning against an undermanned Red Cloud team. It was a not perfect, but it was good.

Then, on Saturday, the local boys took on the always "rough and tumble" Tri-County boys and fought the Class C-2 team to the final seconds of the game.

Things may change, but the 2020-2021 team may just provide a lot of interesting ball games this season. Get set to enjoy.

The game summaries:

L-N – RED CLOUD: 59 – 38: Aggressive . . . coaches preach this to players of all sports. Seldom does a person see it in the first game of the season in high school sports. However, you would have seen it last Friday night in Red Cloud if you could have attended . . . you know, COVID and everything.

It was evident many ways. From the first two points scored in the game by Trevor Biltoft on a nifty 'give-and-go' plays pass from Blake Wroughton. You could see it in the 19 turnovers forced by L-N from the Red Cloud team. Quite a few of the 11 steals by L-N resulted in lay-ups by a Raider. It showed up in the scorebook with four players scoring in double figures and another with 8 points. Krayton Kucera was high scorer with 13 and recorded a 'double – double' for the game.

As mentioned, it was not perfect, but what a place to build on.

No. 1: Red Cloud had first possession, but L-N scored first on that play mentioned above. Trevor got L-N off on a good note. Krayton Kucera made three, 3-pt. shots throughout the period. Cole Troudt and Logan Menke added points. Five players in all scored. Score: 20-13.

No. 2: Red Cloud showed more fight than in usual opening games Friday. They did not fold up. However, six Raiders put points on the board in this period and an equally strong defensive effort was made by the Raiders as well. Half time score: 34-24.

No. 3: L-N used the first two minutes after the intermission to set the tone for the rest of the game. Logan canned a 3-pt. shot, followed by two from the charity stripe by Trevor, followed by another two points by Logan . . . all before Red Cloud scored. L-N forced six turnover from Red Cloud in this period to stay two steps ahead of the hosts. Mid-way through the period, Keith Miller scored six points in a row. Score: 50 – 35.

No. 4: L-N missed out on a number of free throw attempts in this period, but enough were made to keep the coaches and fans happy and insure an opening game victory: Score: 59-38.

Scoring (Pts., FG, FT) Trevor 8, 3-10, 2-4; Cole 4, 1-4, 2-2; Krayton 13, 4-9, 2-6 ; Erik 0, 0-1, 0-0; Logan 10, 3-16, 3-4; Tyson 1-, 5-6, 0-2; Blake 2, 1-6, 0-0; Keith 12, 5-13, 2-5.

Rebounds, Assists: Trevor 5, 5; Cole 1, 0; Krayton 10-4; Erik 0, 1; Logan 9, 2; Tyson 2, 0; Blake 3, 3; Keith 6, 4; Wyatt 0, 0.

3-Pt. Shots: L/N 4-19; Krayton 3-6; Logan 1-8; Red Cloud: 6-17.

L-N – TRI COUNTY: 49-56: The L-N boys entertained Tri County (TC) on Saturday afternoon for their first home game of the season. The game was somewhat different from previous encounters with the school near Beatrice.

In the past, TC often enjoyed a pretty good victory (point wise) over the Raiders. With the exception of one year, TC enjoy 30 +- point margins of victory over the Raiders, but not this year.

For an early season game, this was a very interesting game, and don't let that seven point difference at the end give you the wrong impression.

No. 1: TC scored first, but L-N tied the score at 6-6 on 3-pt. shots by Krayton Kucera and Logan Menke. Kucera and Menke each added another set of 3-pt. shots with Trevor Biltoft adding three the old fashioned way with a field goal and a free throw. TC scored seven points in the final minute of the period to tie the score at 17-17.

No. 2: TC has usually been a 'hard-charging' offensive team, and they were again this year. However, this year the Raider defense didn't back down from the challenge. The Raiders rebounded well against the taller visitors and took the game to the TC defense, and often won the battles. Kucera and Menke added three more 3-pt. shots and Blake Wroughton and Keith Miller added point to give L-N a half time lead of 32-29.

No. 3: Eight minutes most folks from L-N would like to forget about. The defense continued a good job, but the "shots stopped falling."

L-N went from hitting about 50 percent from the field in the first half to hitting only one shot out of 11 in the 3rd period. TC went from being three point down at half time to being seven points ahead at the end of the third period. Score: 34-41.

Denise Mazour

Quick decisions are essential in the game of basketball. Above Trevor Biltoft (3) has four Red Cloud defenders in front of him and an official behind him. His decision was to score two of his eight points in the opening game of the season.

No. 4: TC expanded their lead to a 14 point (48-34) and in some years past, the Raiders did not respond. This year, the Raiders outscored TC 15-5 in the last five minutes of the game, cutting the lead to only six points with just a little over a minute to play.

Losses are never easy to take, but the Raiders gave coaches and fans a very good taste of quality basketball, early in the season. The term "Raider Football" has been familiar for many years. If the season continues as promising as it has started, "Raider Basketball" will also become a watch-word for L-N.

Scoring (Pts., FG, FT) Trevor 5, 1-3, 3-5; Cole 3, 1-6, 0-0; Krayton 18, 6-17, 0-0; Logan 13, 5-7, 0-0; Blake 2, 1-2, 0-0; Keith 8, 4-7, 0-0.

Rebounds, Assists: Trevor 8, 1; Cole 0, 5; Krayton 1, 1; Logan 4, 5; Blake 2, 0; Keith11, 1.

3-Pt. Shots: L-N 10-37: Cole 1-6, Krayton 6-17, Logan 3-14; TC: 5-11.

Blocked Shots: Blake 1.

Fouls: L-N 13, TC 12.

This week, L-N will host Franklin on Friday with games at 4, 5, 6 and 7:30 p.m. On Saturday the Raiders will travel to BDS and play at 1, 2, 3 and 4:30 p.m.