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Kearney High has had Grand Island Senior High's number the last few games.
It had been a while since Dave Oman and his Islanders have been able to knock off the Bearcats, but they got it done Saturday in the Heartland Hoops Classic at the Heartland Events Center.
Mike Lorenz and Kash Kalkowski both hit four straight free throws in the final minutes as the Islanders downed the Class A No. 4-ranked Bearcats 57-47.
Kalkowski led Grand Island (14-4) with 12 points while Lorenz had 11 off the bench.
"Mike was a starter last year," Oman said. "He came off the bench and played really well tonight. He was our second leading scorer. I thought he's done a really nice job of handling that situation.
"He came up big tonight I thought. He had a big shot there in the first half, and he's our best free throw shooter. Kash has really improved at that. Those are the guys we want to have the ball at the end."
Grand Island held a 40-28 lead heading into the final quarter, but the Bearcats (13-5) came roaring back. Kearney got its transition game going while the Islanders couldn't buy a basket.
The Bearcats pulled to within 40-38 before Kalkowski hit a free throw for Grand Island's first point of the quarter with 3 minutes, 36 seconds left.
"When things were going well for us, we were getting transition, it was a full-court game and we were aggressively taking the ball to the basket," Kearney coach Scott Steinbrook said. "We had to sit back and attack their 2-3 zone in more of a half-court situation. That's when we turned the ball over a few times."
After missing three of its first four free throws in the final quarter, the Islanders began putting it in the hole in the final minutes, Kalkowski hit two with 1:44 left, then Slade Bolles nailed two with 1:15 remaining to give the Islanders a 46-41 lead.
"We kind of weathered their surge there at the end," Oman said. "We took a couple of quick shots that we really didn't need. For the most part we made free throws down the stretch and that's something I think we've gotten better at here the last month."
Lorenz made 1 of 2 with 1:05 remaining but hit four straight in the final 30 seconds to put the game away.
"G.I. stepped up and made their free throws from the line," Steinbrook said. "We hurt ourselves from the line in a couple of situations. They got a couple of offensive rebounds on their free throws which added to the problems."
The Islanders played a 2-3 zone against the Bearcats after using the man-to-man in a 60-47 loss on Jan. 12.
"They have so many weapons," Oman said. "(R.J.) Rhoads I think is one of the best post players in the state. They have people that can penetrate, they have shooters and they're really deep. They're probably nine or 10 deep and that makes them tough."
The zone didn't surprise the Bearcats. They just didn't handle it was well as Steinbrook had hoped.
"We haven't seen a lot of zone," Steinbrook said. "We've been anticipating seeing zone about the last two or three weeks because our big guy inside, R.J. Rhoads, has done such a good job.
"We kind of figured G.I. would come out and play us in a 2-3. They just did a really good job taking away R.J. inside. We didn't hit a lot of shots early and I think our confidence got rattled a little bit."
The two teams could meet again in the district tournament late this month. Both coaches said that game will be much more important than the previous two.
"It's always nice to beat Kearney, but the big games are coming up at the end of February," Oman said. "It's a good win for our confidence, but we have to continue to get better because our district is really tough."
GRAND ISLAND 57, KEARNEY 47
KEARNEY (13-5)
Maher 4-9 0-0 11, Bacon 4-11 0-0 10, Peterson 0-3 0-0 0, Rhoads 5-8 7-15 17, Tickle 0-3 0-0 0, Shields 0-0 0-0 0, Carson 1-5 2-2 4. Totals 16-46 10-18 47.
GRAND ISLAND (14-4)
Crouch 3-6 2-3 8, Bolles 2-3 3-4 7, Carstens 4-10 0-0 11, Kalkowski 3-5 6-9 12, Kropp 0-3 2-2 2, Lorenz 3-4 5-6 11, Ludwig 2-3 2-2 6. Totals 17-35 18-27 47.
Kearney 11 4 13 19 47
Grand Island 11 14 15 17 57
3-Point goals Kearney 5-17 (Maher 3-6, Bacon 2-6, Peterson 0-1, Fullmer 0-1, Shields 0-1, Tickle 0-2). Grand Island 3-11 (Carstens 3-6, Kalkowski 0-1, Kropp 0-2 Crouch 0-2). Fouled outFullmer. ReboundsKearney 31 (Rhoads 12). Grand Island 20 (Bolles 4, Carstens 4, Kalkowski 4). Turnovers Kearney 14, Grand Island 9. Total fouls Kearney 21, Grand Island 17. Technicals None.
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