The Fort Calhoun boys basketball bench reached its loudest down the stretch Monday as the Pioneers' substitutes made plays on the floor at Omaha Brownell-Talbot.
Coach TJ O'Connor's squad won its fifth-straight game by blowout, 71-34, allowing those players an opportunity to get varsity minutes against the Raiders. It was the last victory of their winning streak.
“Honestly, I feel like that all comes down to our love for each other,” junior Jaxson Burns said of the enthusiastic cheers.
FCHS played four strong quarters Monday, leading 13-8 after one period and by 15 points at halftime before the road game opened up even further. Burns led the Pioneers with a season-high 17 points, while Kade Foy scored 15 and Adam Elofson had eight. Eli Tinkham and Travis Skelton combined for two of their team's nine 3-point makes, finishing with seven points apiece, too.
“We just played really good team ball,” Burns said. “No one was looking for their own points, their own boards — their own steals. We were all trusting each other to win.”
The balanced showing continued into the fourth period where Calhoun outscored Brownell-Talbot again, 17-8, despite using several bench players to do it.
The win was an overall team effort, which coach TJ O'Connor believes is necessary to succeed for the Pioneers this season. He said, in recent years, FCHS has had the ability to rely on key scorers to win games. It hasn't been the same story this season.
“We need different guys on different nights and, more than anything, we just need consistency,” O'Connor said after Monday's victory.
It's not all bout about scoring either.
“If you're not scoring, you've got to find other ways to contribute and I think they're kind of buying into that,” he said.
O'Connor noted how the Pioneers can be a tough out when they shoot and share the ball like they did on the Raiders' home floor.
Calhoun winning streak ends
The Pioneers winning streak came to an end Tuesday at Class C1 No. 2 Omaha Concordia.
The Mustangs (11-1 overall) led 21-9 through one period and won 64-36. The loss was FCHS' first since a Jan. 7 against West Point-Beemer.
Elofson totaled nine points in defeat, while Burns and Skelton scored five apiece. Jack Thrasher, meanwhile, led the highly-touted Concordia squad with 20.
Coach O'Connor's Pioneers next play 6 p.m. Tuesday during the first round of the Nebraska Capitol Conference Tournament. They play at fourth-seeded Arlington.
FCHS BASKETBALL LINE SCORES
Tuesday
No. 2 Omaha Concordia 64, Fort Calhoun 36
FCHS (7-8) 9 8 8 11 — 36
OC (11-1) 21 18 15 10 — 64
Scoring: FCHS — Adam Elofson 9, Jaxson Burns 5, Travis Skelton 5, Colby Bentley 4, Dylan Keyser 4, Blake Welchert 4, Kade Foy 3, Eli Tinkham 2.
OC — Jack Thrasher 20, Elliotte McCafferty 12, Drew Kulus 11, Jackson Shepherd 7, Lincoln Goetz 6, Owen Abendroth 2, Logan Hermann 2, Jake Clarkson 2, Cole Cheatham 2.
Monday
Fort Calhoun 71, Omaha Brownell-Talbot 34
FCHS (7-7) 13 19 22 17 — 71
OBT (6-8) 8 9 9 8 — 34
Scoring: FCHS — Burns 17, Foy 15, Elfoson 8, Tinkham 7, Skelton 7, Bentley 6, Welchert 5, Chase Premer 2, Keyser 2, Colton Miles 2.
OBT — Perry Anderson 14, John Schinzel 6, Rocco Vigneri 5, Rhett Urzendowski 4, Marcel Banks 3, Lucas Ping 2.
