The Superior Express -

It may not seem possible, but the end of the high school basketball season is within sight. The L-N Raider's boys team played four games last week, winning two and dropping two. The larger D-1 team defeated the Raiders while the victories came over D-2 and a C-2 teams. A summary of the games follows:

L-N – AXTELL: 33-48: The third quarter of play was the primary reason for this games downfall.

L-N 6 10 10 7 - 33

Axtell 6 12 20 10 - 48

After looking over the game, that first period was interesting. Axtell scored six points with 2 3-pt. shots while the Raiders had a free throw by Nolan, two free throws by Clay and a 3-pt. shot by Clay to total their six points.

The second period remained close the whole way with Nolan and Sawyer each scoring four points. Than came the third period.

Axtell made five of six 3-pt. shots and had zero turnovers to have a near perfect 8 minutes of play. The Raiders recovered somewhat in the final period. They held Axtell scoreless for over three minutes, but could not overcome the third period deficit.

Axtell shot a better percentage of their 3-pt. shot than their 2-pt. shots. The teams were almost even in rebounds, turnovers and fouls.

Clay Williams recorded a double-double with 15 points and ten rebounds along with two assists. Nolan Ostdiek also had double digit scoring with ten points along with 2 assists, 7 rebounds and two pass deflections.

Game stats: (FG, FT, RB., Pts.)

Aidan Zikmund 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0

Carter Griffis 0-0, 0-0, 2, 0

Hayden Mazour 0-1, 0-0, 1, 0

Caden Culbertson 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0

Bayln Bargen 0-3, 0-0, 1, 0

Jack Williams 1-3, 0-0, 2, 2

Connor Janda 1-3, 0-0, 1, 2

Nolan Ostdiek 4-15, 2-5, 7, 10

Riley Cannaday 0-1, 0-0, 1, 0

Clay Williams 5-16, 4-9, 10, 15

Sawyer Cox 2-7, 0-0, 6, 4

Carson Vaughn 0-1, 0-0, 1, 0

L/N total: 13-51, 6-14, 37, 33

Axtell total: 17-52, 5-11, 38, 48

L-N – HARVARD: 57-38: The Tuesday night game last week involved a trip to Harvard when the Raiders picked up their 11th win of the season.

The game was a consistent effort on the part of the whole team as coach Brown played all 15 players in this game. A look at the quarter scores shows how consistent the Raiders performed:

L-N 15 15 12 15 - 57

Harvard 8 8 9 13 - 38

The 57 points was a team high for the season and the boys made almost 50 percent of all field goal attempts, being especially adapt at the 2-pt. shots where they made 64.5percent.

Clay Williams led the team in scoring with 13 points followed closely by Sawyer Cox with 10 points. L-N had a decisive advantage in rebounding with a 42-20 edge and also held a 13-6 advantage in assists led by Clay Williams' four.

Game stats: (FG, FT, RB., Pts.)

Aidan Zikmund 0-1, 0-0, 2, 0

Carter Griffis 2-2, 0-0, 3, 4

Jace Hoelting 0-1, 0-0, 2, 0

Hayden Mazour 0-1, 0-2, 1, 0

Caden Culbertson 0-2, 0-0, 4, 0

Bayln Bargen 2-4, 0-0, 2, 6

Jack Williams 1-2, 1-2, 2, 3

Connor Janda 1-4, 0-0, 1, 3

Nolan Ostdiek 1-3, 2-2, 4, 4

Cody Funk 2-5, 1-2, 2, 6

Caleb Griffis 3-3, 0-0, 3, 6

Riley Cannaday 1-2, 0-0, 0, 2

Clay Williams 6-12, 1-4, 5, 13

Sawyer Cox 5-7, 0-0, 5, 10

Carson Vaughn 0-3, 0-0, 1, 0

L/N team total 24-52, 5-12, 42, 57

Harvard total 11-41, 12-20, 20, 38

L-N – KENESAW: 37-47: A Wednesday for practice and the boys were back playing on Thursday of last week with a trip to Kenesaw. Maybe an unexpected loss, but a loss never-the-less, and maybe could be blamed on the terrible night at the charity stripe for the Raiders. Both teams shot very similar from the field goal range, but L/N made only 3-13 free throws while Kenesaw made 10-16. The quarter scores:

L/N 5 15 13 4 - 37

Kenesaw 17 14 8 8 - 47

As shown by the scores above, the Raiders dug themselves into a 12 point deficit in the first period and just could not overcome that hole.

Bayln Bargen and Nolan Ostdiek led the scoring production for L-N with 11 points each, Sawyer Cox with 10 and Clay Williams with 8 led the Raider rebounding. Rebounding figures for each team ended up even with 34 for each team.

Game stats: (FG, FT, RB., Pts.)

Aidan Zikmund 0-0, 0-0 0, 0

Carter Griffis 1-3, 0-2, 3, 3

Caden Culbertson 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0

Bayln Bargen 4-8, 0-0, 1, 11

Jack Williams 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0

Connor Janda 0-2, 0-2, 2, 0

Nolan Ostdiek 4-9, 3-7, 6, 11

Clay Williams 4-14, 0-0, 8, 8

Cody Funk 0-2, 0-0, 0, 0

Sawyer Cox 2-9, 0-2, 10, 4

L-N team total 15-49, 3-13, 34, 37

Kenesaw total 16-48, 10-16, 34, 47

"Gosh . . . it gets crowded at times . . ." Clay Williams is surrounded by three defenders as he goes up for two points under the basket. On the right is Sawyer Cox ready to help if needed.

L-N – SUPERIOR: 42-32: The final game of the week saw the Raiders host the neighbors to the south, Superior on Friday night. The Raiders reversed their play from the night before in the fact L-N had a good first period to put Superior in a ten point hole which they could never craw out of.

The teams shot about even percentage from the field, but L-N just had a lot more attempts. Free throws made were also even with seven each. Score by quarter:

L-N 13 8 8 13 - 42

Superior 3 8 5 16 - 32

Once again, the win was a team effort as different players stepped up and made crucial contributions at different times in the game. Shooting percentages appeared to be about even for the teams but the Raiders controlled the rebounds and scored often from those rebounds.

Official statistics were not available, again due to technology problems.

The boys play one final game of the regular season this Friday with a trip to Deshler before they start play in the sub-district tournament.