A week before the rematch at Fort Calhoun High School, the Arlington boys basketball team beat the Pioneers in Nebraska Capitol Conference play.
History didn't repeat itself.
Coach TJ O'Connor's squad held the Eagles to just 39 points Tuesday, securing a 57-39 home win. The Pioneers are 1-1 against AHS and 9-9 overall, while coach Jake Polk's team dropped to 10-8 in defeat.
“They catch fire pretty easily and play hard the whole time, so we just knew that we needed to dog them out on the perimeter,” Calhoun's Colby Bentley said. “Really protect the 3-point line.”
Guard Eli Tinkham had his own thoughts on the turnaround.
“I think we guarded better and rebounded better,” the junior explained. “They dominated in the second half last week, but, this week, we kind of put it to them on the rebounding side.”
Arlington's coach didn't have too different of perspective, noting how strong the Pioneers played during the Washington County teams' second matchup against each other.
“We didn't handle their physicality good enough,” Polk said, noting his team's offensive struggles. “We were forcing things a little bit. Didn't play good enough team basketball.”
FCHS got off to a strong start on its home floor, building a 19-11 lead through 8 minutes. Tinkham had two 3-point makes during the first quarter and finished with three makes from beyond the arc overall.
“It was big,” he said of the Pioneers' early efforts. “There was going to be a lot of energy, and we just needed to come out and strike first.”
Coach O'Connor's team outscored the Eagles by nine during the second period, too, before the teams played an almost even second half. FCHS outscored AHS by just one point during the third and fourth quarters.
“I think they handled the ball better than us,” Polk said, though, summarizing the loss. “Any pressure or physicality that we brought, they had an answer for that.”
Schuyler Logemann led the Eagles with 13 points, while Bentley finished with 13 for the home squad. Tinkham had 11 for Fort Calhoun, too, while Blake Welchert tallied nine.
The Pioneers next play 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Nebraska City, while the Eagles host Conestoga 7:30 p.m. today.
HS BASKETBALL LINE SCORE
Tuesday
Fort Calhoun 57, Arlington 39
AHS (10-8) 11 4 11 13 — 39
FCHS (9-9) 19 13 11 14 — 57
Scoring: FCHS — Colby Bentley 13, Eli Tinkham 11, Blake Welchert 9, Adam Elofson 7, Travis Skelton 6, Kade Foy 5, Jaxson Burns 4, Dylan Keyser 2.
AHS — Schuyler Logemann 13, Trent Koger 10, Oliver Ladehoff 8, Owen Ladehoff 3, Luke Sharp 2, Ethan Hilgenkamp 2, Killian McIntosh 1.
