The Fort Calhoun boys basketball team picked up two more wins Thursday and Friday, improving to 17-4 on the season.
“It's been great,” senior Morgan Ishii said after Thursday's 68-29 road rout of Tekamah-Herman. “We put in a lot of work and we've done as much as we could to prepare for these moments.”
The Pioneers led the outmatched Tigers 17-10 after one period, but destroyed any doubt about their eventual victory — their 16th of the 2023-24 campaign — with a 29-2 second quarter. Decyln Otte scored the final bucket of the first quarter and the first of the second, finishing with a team-best 14 points during the win.
Like Otte, Grayson Bouwman knocked down a 3-pointer in the second period and finished with 13 points overall. Colby Bentley added 12 points and Adam Elofson had nine before Ishii and his fellow substitutes closed the game out in the fourth.
Dylan Keyser led the bench crew with eight points, but Ishii thought the whole group did well in finishing off the victory.
“They showed some really great effort,” Ishii said. “They're just improving every day.”
The next night, FCHS topped Raymond Central 58-39 at home. Bentley scored a season-high 26 points, while Bouwman had 20. Travis Skelton notched seven, too, as the Pioneers closed out their regular season home schedule with a 19-point victory.
Calhoun officially closes out its regular schedule Friday with a 6 p.m. road game at North Bend Central. Subdistrict tournament play is tentatively set to begin Feb. 20, though matchups and game times are yet to be announced officially.
FCHS BOYS HOOPS LINE SCORES
Friday
Fort Calhoun 58, Raymond Central 39
RC (1-20) 8 6 12 13 — 39
FCHS (17-4) 12 17 17 12 — 58
Scoring: FCHS — Colby Bentley 26, Grayson Bouwman 20, Travis Skelton 7, Adam Elofson 3, Blake Welchert 2.
RC — Dawson Potter 9, Colton Dubas 7, Tavion Johnson 7, Ben Kliment 6, Gavin Gehle 4, Landon Lubischer 4, Asher Allen 2.
Thursday
Fort Calhoun 68, Tekamah-Herman 29
FCHS (16-4) 10 2 7 10 — 29
TK (4-15) 17 29 15 7 — 68
Scoring: FCHS — Decyln Otte 14, Bouwman 13, Bentley 12, Elofson 9, Dylan Keyser 8, Skelton 7, Eli Tinkham 5.
TK — Brody Rogers 12, Sam Oligmueller 6, Griffin Breckenridge 5, Parke Loftis 3, Cale Belfrage 1, Camdan Chase 1, Reece Williams 1.
