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KEARNEY An 11-2 run early in the third quarter propelled Lexington to a 52-47 victory over Grand Island Northwest Saturday night in a Class B, District 5 first-round game at the UNK Health and Sports Center.
The Vikings (5-15) got the first basket of the second half on a rebound shot by Adam Wemhoff to go up 27-24, but the Minutemen (6-14) scored the next 11 points to take control of the game.
"We've taken a lot of losses this year where our shots were in and out," Lexington coach Darren Hanson said. "We just had a hard time with our confidence. You get that 11-2 run and it really gives you some confidence and some energy. Our kids really fed off that and played well on the defensive end when we were scoring some points."
Of course the Vikings battled back. Head coach Jeff Korus said his team played hard all season long.
"Our kids battled hard," Korus said. "We got up early and did OK. Lexington did a nice job on the offensive boards. I thought in the third quarter they turned up their defensive pressure and we didn't handle it as well. We missed out on some opportunities, but our guys kept battling."
Northwest did indeed come back in the fourth quarter. A driving basket by Ethan Stutzman, a steal and layup by Ryan Kieselhorst and a 16-foot jumper by Stutzman made it 44-43 with 1 minute, 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
"The kids kept chipping away," Korus said. "We gave ourselves a chance to get back in the game. I was proud of our kids to do that. We just came up on the short end tonight."
But then Lexington started going to the free-throw line. The Minutemen hit seven straight free throws and got a couple of key offensive rebounds to hold off the Vikings down the stretch.
Lexington junior Kellen Schroeder made 5 of 6 from the line in the final quarter.
"It was really good shooting them down the stretch," Hanson said. "Kellen Schroeder really stepped up and shot them well for us. That's something we've done is shoot free throws down the stretch in close games."
Lexington made just 12 of 46 shots from the field (26.1 percent) but was 23 for 30 from the line (76.7 percent) while the Vikings were 4 of 12 (33 percent). The Minutemen also pulled down 16 offensive rebounds in the game.
"The thing we talked about at halftime was we had to do a better job on the boards in terms of checking people out," Korus said. "We didn't quite get that done in the second half. Lexington continued to have that mentality to crash the boards. They just got too many second chances."
The two teams met early in the season with the Vikings taking a 76-58 victory.
"GINW ran us off the floor the first time we played them," Hanson said. "We probably gave up 35 points in transition. We really tried to emphasize taking away the fast break and really tried to make them earn everything they got.
"They're athletic. They have some kids who can really shoot the ball for them."
Kieselhorst and Stutzman led the Vikings with 11 points each. Kieselhorst added eight assists while Stutzman had 10 rebounds.
Northwest was playing without leading scorer Jory Plasterer who was out for disciplinary reasons.
"The season wasn't quite what we envisioned, but probably for all except about three games, we were in every game," Korus said. "We had a chance to win, even tonight again. We just didn't know how to get over that last hurdle.
"The kids never hung their heads all season. They kept playing hard and represented Northwest with character and hard work."
LEXINGTON 52, GRAND ISLAND NW 47
LEXINGTON (6-14)
Bernal 0-5 4-6 4, Dillard 2-10 3-4 8, Tingelhoff 1-3 4-5 6, Schroeder 1-3 5-6 7, Cunningham 3-7 3-5 9, Long 3-8 2-2 10, Araujo 2-5 2-2 8, Cantrall 0-0 0-0 0, Seberger 0-3 0-0 0, Clark 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 12-46 23-30 52.
GRAND ISLAND NW (5-15)
Wemhoff 3-5 0-0 6, Cox 3-11 0-1 7, Kieselhorst 4-8 2-5 11, Johnson 2-3 1-1 5, Stutzman 5-9 1-3 10, McMahon 1-4 0-0 3, Englund 1-3 0-1 2, Hadan 0-2 0-0 0, Pomajzl 1-2 1-2 3. Totals 20-47 4-12 47.
Lexington 8 16 16 12 52
Grand Island NW 10 15 8 14 47
3-Point goals Lexington 5-17 (Long 2-4, Araujo 2-5, Dillard 1-4, Bernal 0-2, Tingelhoff 0-2). GINW 3-14 (Johnson 1-1, Kieselhorst 1-3, Cox 1-6, Englund 0-1, Hadan 0-1, McMahon 0-2). Fouled out Wemhoff. Rebounds Lexington 35 (Cunningham 9). GINW 37 (Stuzman 10). Assists Lexington 6 (Long 2, Araujo 2). GINW 12 (Kieselhorst 8). Turnovers Lexington 13, GINW 19. Total fouls Lexington 13, GINW 21. Technicals None.
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