Nik Weibert led the Bridgeport boys basketball team with 13 points as the Bulldogs defeated Perkins County 51-50 on Friday in the semifinals of the SPVA Tournament at North Platte Community College.
“I thought our team rebounded the basketball extremely well in the first half of the game, and then the second half was a gritty, gutsy game,” Bridgeport coach Sean Sterkel said.
Perkins County had two chances to make free throws to either tie the game or take the lead late, but the Plainsmen came up short both times.
Nolan Foster missed both of his attempts with 8.3 seconds left in a 50-49 game. If he made them both, Perkins County would have taken the lead.
Then with just over a second left, Ryder Potts needed to make both of his attempts to tie the game at 51-51, and he made just the front end.
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“My first reaction was, ‘Did we rebound it?’” Sterkel said. “Some of those come off and that’s an easy scoop and score for them. I was just happy that we secured the ball at the end of the game when we needed to secure it.”
Kolby Lussetto and Bodhi Dohse each finished with 12 points for Bridgeport, and Kason Loomis added six.
Perkins County’s Jackson Wykert led all players with 21 points, and Blake Garner scored 10. Nolan Foster had seven.
Bridgeport advances to the SPVA Tournament finals, where the Bulldogs will face St. Pat’s at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Bridgeport never trailed, but Perkins County kept the game close outside of a slow first quarter.
The Bulldogs opened the game with a 9-0 run and held Perkins County to just four points as Bridgeport took a 13-4 lead into the second quarter.
Perkins County started whittling down the lead, pulling to within four before Bridgeport scored the next five points to go into halftime with a 25-16 lead.
The name of the game soon became could Perkins County pull off the comeback. The Plainsmen kept whittling down the lead from nine to then five midway through the third quarter. By the end of the frame, the Plainsmen were only down 36-34.
Bridgeport opened the fourth quarter with a 3 followed by a basket to go back out by seven. Wykert made a 3 to cut the deficit to four, and after Bridgeport made a basket, he drained another 3 to pull Perkins County to within three at 43-40.
Later on, Perkins County scored back-to-back baskets to cut the deficit to one at 47-46. Both teams traded 3s to keep the lead at one until Perkins County missed free throws with the game on the line.
“Our guards have matured a lot as the season has gone on,” Sterkel said. “Now we have 13 games under our belts … so I’m interested to watch their matchup when St. Pat’s has their pressure early and see how we handle it.”
GIRLS
Bridgeport 66, Chase County 23
Olivia Loomis-Goltl scored a game-high 27 points as the Bridgeport girls defeated Chase County 66-23 on Friday in the semifinals of the SPVA Tournament at NPCC.
Ruthie Loomis-Goltl scored 15 and Brooklyn Mohrman added 11 for Bridgeport. Bryn McNair finished with 12 to lead Chase County.
Chase County kept the game close early in the first quarter, only trailing by three midway through at 9-6. Bridgeport then went on an 8-0 run to extend the lead to 17-6 going into the second quarter.
The Bulldogs exploded in the frame, scoring 23 points to put up 40 at halftime while holding Chase County to seven to extend the lead to 40-13.
Bridgeport scored 17 in the third quarter to put the score at 57-19, then made the opening basket of the fourth quarter to force a running clock. The Bulldogs later closed out the game 66-23.
BOYS
Bridgeport (51)
Nik Weibert 13, Kolby Lussetto 12, Bodhi Dohse 12, Kason Loomis 6, Gage Nein 4, Holden Shultz 3, Logan Metz 1.
Perkins County (50)
Jackson Wykert 21, Blake Garner 10, Nolan Foster 7, Ryder Potts 5, Colton Kroeker 5, Dawson Tjaden 2.
GIRLS
Bridgeport (66)
Olivia Loomis-Goltl 27, Ruthie Loomis-Goltl 15, Brooklyn Mohrman 11, Mackenzie Liakos 7, Grace Dean 4, Megan Cline 2.
Chase County (23)
Bryn McNair 12, Ali McNair 3, Landree McNair 3, Elizabeth Reeves 2, Adelle Eskew 2, Olivia Spady 1.