Plainsmen fall to Hershey, Wray

Perkins County’s Plainsmen opened this year’s basketball season with a 69-40 loss to Hershey Thursday and an 86-45 loss to Wray, Colorado Friday. 

There’s a lot of things his team can get better at, Coach Shawn Cole said, but everything’s fixable. 

It’s the little things that make a big difference, he added, like blocking out on every shot. 

The  Plainsmen gave up 17 offensive rebounds to Hershey and 27 to Wray.

That’s defense, he said. “We’re not finishing possessions.” But the season’s young and those are things that can be fixed, he said. 

Offensively, he said the Plainsmen made a lot of mistakes in the opener against Hershey. “We’ll get there.”

The Plainsmen already showed improvement at Wray, taking a 22-20 lead after the first quarter. 

But Wray’s man-to-man pressure and trapping schemes took it’s toll on the Plainsmen. 

In the second quarter, Wray put up 33 points to just eight for the Plainsmen. 

“The type of pressure that Hershey and Wray put on is something the Plainsmen can’t duplicate in practice,” Cole noted.

As a result, they have to learn by actually seeing it and responding to it. 

In the opener against Hershey, the Plainsmen spotted the Panthers six points before getting on the board themselves. 

Back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomores Tristan Hite and Hunter Garner tied the game 6-6 midway in the first quarter. 

Hite later added a free throw but the Plainsmen had to play catch-up all game, falling behind 18-7. 

Hershey put up 17 more in the second quarter to the Plainsmen’s 10.

After a six-point third quarter, the Plainsmen put up 17 in the fourth to finish with 40 points to Hershey’s 69.

Garner, playing his first game in a Plainsmen uniform, led the team with 14. Hite added another eight.

The Plainsmen shot 42% from inside the 3-point arc on a 10-24 effort. Outside the arc they went 2-10 for 20%. At the line there were 10-23.

Perkins County 40

2 PT. 3 PT. FT/

FG FG FTA F TP 

Hunter Garner 4 1 3-7 3 14

Jeb Kohl 1 0 2-2 0 4

Triston Hite 2 1 1-2 1 8

Carson Thelander 2 0 0-3 1 4

Hayden Foster 1 0 1-2 0 3

James Garner 1 0 2-5 1 4

Caleb Lagler 0 0 0-0 1 0

Alex Poppe 1 0 1-2 2 3

TOTALS 12 2 10-23 9 40

Hershey 69

Hershey’s totals: 2 pt. FG—18; 3 pt. FG—8; FT/FTA—9-9; Fouls—21; TP—69.

Points by quarters:

Perkins County 7 10 6 17—40

Hershey 18 17 20 14—69

At Wray, the Plainsmen got off 34 two-pointers, making 12 for a 34% effort. Outside the arc, they went 4-11 for 36%. At the line, they were 5-13 for 38%.

Garner led the scoring again at Wray, finishing with 16. Hite followed with nine.

Perkins County 45

2 PT. 3 PT. FT/

FG FG FTA F TP 

Hunter Garner 4 2 2-5 3 16

Jeb Kohl 0 0 1-2 0 1

Triston Hite 3 1 0-0 4 9

Carson Thelander 2 0 0-0 5 4

Hayden Foster 2 0 0-0 1 4

James Garner 1 1 1-2 1 6

Caleb Lagler 2 0 1-2 0 5

Alex Poppe 0 0 0-0 4 0

TOTALS 14 4 5-11 18 45

Wray 86

Wray’s totals: 2 pt. FG—30; 3 pt. FG—6; FT/FTA—8-17; Fouls—15; TP—86.

Points by quarters:

Perkins County 22 8 10 5—45

Wray 20 33 20 13—86

Next Action

The Plainsmen face Kimball on Friday night on the Plainsmen’s home court.

Cole said Kimball has a new coach this year so he’ll be watching scouting film to get an idea of what they’ll see.

They lost to Dundy County Stratton 58-46 but came back with a 60-22 win over Potter-Dix.

On Saturday, the Plainsmen travel to Gothenburg where they will face a big, tough team coming off a successful football season. 

However, they come in at 0-2 after falling to Hershey 53-48 and Lexington 73-54.

Game time Friday in Grant begins with jayvee games at 4 p.m.

Saturday, jayvee tip-off is set for 1 p.m. MT.