By Bob Hamar
bob.hamar@theindependent.com

The Tigers and Heartland Lutheran kicked off the Heartland Hoops Classic Saturday morning at the Heartland Events Center. Class D-1 No. 5-rated (Omaha World-Herald) Palmer got the offense going early and rolled to an 85-59 victory over the Red Hornets.

Neil Kilchriste poured in 37 points for the Tigers (15-2). Many of his 17 field goals came off assists from senior point guard Nic Dukat.

"If I said Nic had 20 assists I might be low," Palmer coach Matt Koehler said. "Neil scored the points, but when he gets them where he's getting them, I could put a lot of people in there to do that. Neil did a great job of finishing, but it starts with Nic and with other guys spreading the floor.

"And when you have other guys coming off the bench like Danny (Friedrichsen) and Josh (Stoppkotte) and shooting threes as well as they did, it kind of opens it up and they can't pack it in down there on Neil."

Assists totals were not available, but Dukat surely had a triple-double for the game with 11 points and 13 rebounds to go with his numerous assists.

Heartland Lutheran coach Lloyd Wagnitz said the Dukat-to-Kilchriste combination was no surprise.

"We knew they were good at that," Wagnitz said. "They have a great team. That's why they're where they're at right now with only two losses. They play ball really well together.

"We knew we'd have our hands full. They're bigger. They're quick. We just had a hard time stopping them underneath."

The game began a little more than 12 hours after the Tigers had suffered a 66-48 loss to Osceola on Friday night. That setback certainly didn't seem to bother Palmer any against the Red Hornets (9-7).

Wagnitz said he saw on TV Friday night that the Tigers had beaten Osceola.

"They had the score reversed," Wagnitz said. "Then I see in the paper this morning that they lost. They had a little motivation and we ended up taking the brunt of it."

Palmer jumped out to a 23-11 lead at the end of the first quarter and led 47-26 at the half.

"The first half, the atmosphere maybe bothered us a little bit," Wagnitz said. "They've never been in anything like this. We've been playing it down and trying to keep an even keel."

The Red Hornets played the Tigers much more evenly in the second half, but Palmer still outscored Heartland Lutheran 38-33 in the final two quarters.

Matthew Wagnitz led Heartland Lutheran with 21 points while Jacob Salter added 16.

Wagnitz scored 17 of his points in the second half.

"I'm proud of our boys. They never quit," Lloyd Wagnitz said. "Some people said that we didn't belong playing in this game. They proved that we do."

Koehler said playing the morning after a night game was good practice for his team.

It's something the Tigers could face if they make it to the state tournament.

"If you want to do it in Lincoln, you have to be able to do it here," Koehler said. "That's kind of the goal right now is to do well in subdistricts and districts, and we're going to have to play Heartland Lutheran again."

PALMER 85, HEARTLAND LUTHERAN 59

PALMER (15-2)

Dukat 5-11 1-4 11, Neil Kilchriste 17-24 3-5 37, McDermott 1-3 0-0 3, Saltzgaber 3-6 1-1 7, Niles Kilchriste 0-0 0-0 0 , Friedrichsen 3-4 0-0 8, Stoppkotte 3-5 0-0 8, I. Christensen 0-0 0-0 0, Doggett 0-0 0-0 0, A. Christensen 0-0 0-0 0, Haag 3-12 2-2 9, B. Saltzgaber 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 35-67 9-13 85.

HEARTLAND LUTHERAN (9-7)

Bartels 3-6 0-0 9, AJ Messersmith 2-3 1-1 5, Seim 0-1 0-0 0, Wagnitz 9-17 0-0 21, Gibson 0-0 0-0 0, Kirby 0-0 0-0 0, Kreutzer 1-4 0-0 2, Rauert 2-2 0-0 4, Kowalski 0-4 0-0 0, J. Messersmith 1-5 1-2 2, Salter 5-11 4-4 16, Paustian 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-62 5-7 59.

Palmer 23 24 18 2085

Heartland Lutheran 11 15 20 1359

3-Point goalsPalmer 7-16 (Stoppkotte 2-3, Dukat 2-3, McDermott 1-3, Haag 1-6). Heartland Lutheran 8-21 (Bartels 3-4, Wagnitz 3-8, Salter 2-7). Fouled outNone. ReboundsPalmer 43 (Dukat 13). Heartland Lutheran 32 (Wagnitz 10). TurnoversPalmer 10, Heartland Lutheran 7. Total foulsPalmer 7, Heartland Lutheran 14. TechnicalsNone.

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