A first-round win against Logan View/Scribner-Snyder set the Fort Calhoun High School boys basketball team up against the host West Point-Beemer Cadets on Tuesday night.
The Cadets were the Class C1-6 Subdistrict Tournament's top seed.
“We just know we've got to come out and attack them,” Pioneers senior Travis Skelton said. “We're going to be the aggressor and we're just going to let it rip.”
FCHS nearly came back from a 21-11 halftime deficit to beat the 18-6 Cadets, but lost 37-36. Their last-second attempt to win the game and save the season just missed. Instead, the Pioneers close out the campaign 13-11 overall
Down 29-21 going into the fourth period, though, FCHS coach TJ O'Connor credited his team for fighting back into the game.
“Our kids just battled. It was a team effort,” he stated in a postgame text. “We struggled offensively, and just could not find a rhythm and did not shoot it well. We hit some shots late — a number of guys did.”
Junior Adam Elofson — who scored a team-best 12 points — Kade Foy and Colby Bentley all knocked down fourth-quarter field goals, while Blake Welchert added a free throw, too. It just wasn't enough.
“I should have done some different things earlier to get us going offensively as it was a struggle early on me and I’ll take the blame for that,” O'Connor stated. “I was so proud of our kids, though. On a night where things weren’t falling, they hung in and had a chance to win it at the end.”
The loss ended a strong close to the Pioneers' season. After a 2-7 start, they won 11 of their next 15 games with winning streaks of five and four games in-between.
O'Connor called the team a “resilient group.” The players never turned on each other.
“... they kept showing up, kept working, stuck together and kept fighting. I could not be more proud of a group of kids!” he stated.
The coach said the senior group of Chase Premer, Skelton, Colton Miles and Max Halford close out their FCHS careers with as many wins in four years as any other class. Their tenure was just the second time a group of Pioneers have put together four-straight winning seasons.
“They have left a mark on the program that will hopefully carry on within it moving forward,” O'Connor said.
Pioneers rout Logan View
FCHS first, however, routed Logan View 60-33, unfazed by the win-or-go-home aspect of postseason basketball.
“Every night we try to come out and be ourselves,” Skelton said after the first-round game in West Point. “We know what we've got to do.”
On Monday, that meant pounding the ball into the lane.
“It's just business, you know?” Skelton said.
Bentley was the beneficiary, scoring a game-high 24 points across the first three quarters alone. Calhoun led 16-10 after one period and 36-16 after Skelton and Jaxson Burn added a pair of 3-point makes in the second.
“We came in and we just started attacking them,” Bentley said. “I had a lot of points off of drives and dump-offs.”
Skelton was complimentary of the 6-foot-3 post player's showing.
“Colby was just being a dog,” the senior said. “When Colby's on like that, there's not much you can do to stop him.”
In addition to the junior's 24 points, the Foy scored eight with two 3-point makes. Eli Tinkham and Skelton added seven points apiece, too.
Coach O'Connor played substitutes down the stretch with Brayden Bessey scoring the final Fort Calhoun points on a steal and score.
CLASS C1-6 SUBDISTRICT TOURNAMENT
Tuesday
West Point-Beemer 37, Fort Calhoun 36
FCHS (13-11) 6 5 10 15 — 36
WPB (18-6) 15 6 8 8 — 37
Scoring: FCHS — Adam Elofson 12, Travis Skelton 7, Eli Tinkham 4, Colby Bentley 4, Kade Foy 3, Blake Welchert 3.
WPB — Hunter Swanson 19, Blaize Brockmann 9, Brayden Doggett 4, Myls Nielsen 3, Ian Schiller 2.
Monday
Fort Calhoun 60, Logan View/Scribner-Snyder 33
LVSS (6-17) 10 6 7 10 — 33
FCHS (13-10) 16 20 13 11 — 60
Scoring: FCHS — Bentley 24, Foy 8, Tinkham 7, Skelton 7, Jaxson Burns 6, Welchert 4, Dylan Keyser 2, Brayden Bessey 2.
LVSS — Grayson Kraus 17, Colton Kloster 6, Anthony Oberg 3, Cooper Kahlandt 2, Chase Hartman 2, Hutton Kotik 2, Matson Beacom 1.
