Plainsmen win in OT against Hershey, open season at 2-0

Perkins County’s Plainsmen opened the basketball season Thursday with an overtime win over SPVA rival Hershey and followed that up Friday defeating Bridgeport, another SPVA foe. 

    The 2-0 start marked the inaugural season for Head Coach Coy Gager. 

Gager praised his players for their efforts, especially against Hershey in a game that saw 17 lead changes. 

The Plainsmen trailed by six with 1:20 left and came back to take the game into overtime. 

The Plainsmen got a final shot off in the closing seconds to win it outright but it rolled off the rim, sending the game into overtime. Over the next four minutes, PC prevailed, taking a 57-56 win.

    At Bridgeport on Friday, the Plainsmen jumped to an 18-13 leaf after the first quarter and never trailed in the 55-45 win. 

Gager said the goal for his team is to be the toughest team on the court—both physically and mentally. 

That will be put to the test next week when the Plainsmen play five games over an eight-day stretch before going into the Christmas break. 

After playing host to Kimball this Friday, the run begins Tuesday, Dec. 14 with Paxton coming to Grant. 

It wraps up Dec. 20-21 with the Plainsmen’s holiday tournament, with Garden County and Dundy County Stratton in between on Dec. 16 and 18. 

Hershey

The Plainsmen rallied right from the opening tip against Hershey, turning takeaways into layups early in the first quarter to build a 12-4 lead.        Gager said his team may have lost a little of its energy during that opening run, with Hershey closing the gap to tie the game after the first eight minutes, 12-12. 

    From there on, it was a see-saw battle with Hershey taking a 25-24 lead at half. Hershey extended their lead by one in the third, going up 36-34. 

Troubles at the free throw line kept the Plainsmen from pulling away in the fourth. They went to the line nine times, missing their first seven to keep the game tight. 

Senior Hunter Garner hit the fourth of his five three-pointers with 2:44 left to put the Plainsmen up 47-45.  Younger brother Blake Garner finally hit a pair of free throws as Hershey tied the game 49-49.

The Plainsmen got one more shot at an outright win, getting the ball across half court with a timeout left and three seconds on the clock. 

    Gager drew up a play to get Foster the ball underneath on a long inbounds ally-oop pass from Garner. Foster got the shot off but it rolled off the rim to send the game into overtime. 

    Midway in the OT, Garner hit his fifth trey ball for a 54-52 Plainsmen lead. Hershey would add a trey ball and the front end of a one-and-one.

    At the other end, Foster dropped the front end of a one-and-one and Garner dropped a pair from the free throw line to secure a 57-56 win. 

Gager said a 9-22 effort (41%) from the free throw line allowed Hershey to stay in the game. 

    The Plainsmen made 6-21 from outside the arc for 29%, with Garner hitting five of his 12 attempts. 

Inside the arc, the Plainsmen went 15-44 for 34%, to finish 21-65 for the night for 32%. 

Garner led the team with 21, followed by Foster with 13. 

Blake Garner led the team in rebounds with 13 and steals with three. 

    Bridgeport

Friday night, the Plainsmen cured some of their free throw shooting woes from the night before, going 9-10 in the first quarter and 4-6 in the second. 

That enabled them to build a 33-25 halftime lead. 

They finished the night with a 20-30 effort at the line, going 7-14 in the second half. 

Foster led the scoring at Bridgeport with 18, followed by Triston Hite with 16.

The team shot 32% overall, going 3-13 (23%) outside the arc and  13-37 (35%) inside the arc.

Blake Garner finished with 10 rebounds, followed by Hunter Garner with eight and Foster with seven.  Hunter Garner, Hite and Foster each had three assists and Foster led the team in steals with four. 

Kimball here Friday

Kimball comes to Grant Friday night with jayvee girls action beginning at 3 p.m. MT. There will be no boys’ jayvee game. 

    Kimball’s girls come in at 2-1 with wins over Leyton and Minatare and a loss to Bayard. The boys are 0-3 after their first three games.