Tri-City Tribune Sports

Minutemen hoopsters falter to Bison, 63-52 at Districts
Lex's Rios scores team-high 14 points "

     A valiant comeback attempt by the Minutemen wasn't quite enough to extinguish the hot shooting of McCook in a 63-52 Bison victory in the semifinals of the Nebraska Class B-5 district tourney in Kearney on Monday.
     In the opening quarter, the Bison and Lexington exchanged the momentum and the lead throughout the period, but McCook gained the edge by outscoring the Minutemen 15-11 at the conclusion of the first quarter.
     Breaking open a close game on the scoreboard was the shooting stroke of Bison sharpshooter Mark Nichols, as McCook closed out the first half on a 19-6 scoring run. Lexington trailed 35-20 entering the halftime break.
     After making clutch intermission adjustments, the Minutemen and McCook nearly played to a stalemate, with Lexington only being able to make a small dent in the Bison lead and still trailed by 14-points, 43-29 entering the fourth quarter.
     In the early going of the fourth period, Lexington lost their starting post players to foul trouble, and hopes dimmed on the comeback. Not so fast though, as Senior Tyler Tingelhoff and forward Tyler McKeone flipped the light switch and brought the Minutemen storming back to cut the deficit to just six-points before McCook was able to sink 14-of-19 free throw attempts to seal the deal and close the door on the Lexington comeback.
     For the game, McCook shot 35 percent from the field, while burying five trifectas, whereas Lexington was only able to shot 28 percent, but was near perfect from the charity stripe going 11-for-13 in the contest.
     The Minutemen held a slim edge on the boards with 33 rebounds compared to McCook's 30-caroms.
     Lexington's Andrew Rios scored a game-high 14 points
     Senior Tyler Tingelhoff contributed 12 points in limited time on the hardwood.
     Forward Tyler McKeone came up big in the paint with eight points and 12 rebounds.
     McCook's Mark Nichols was in the zone against the Minutemen in shooting 67 percent from the field, in totaling a game-high 34 points.

SCORE
McCook     15     20     8     20     63
Lexington     11     9     9     23     52

FOR THE COMPLETE STORY AND STATISTICS FROM THE GAME,
PLEASE SEE THE THURSDAY PRINT EDITION OF THE TRIBUNE.

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Minutemen hoopsters falter to Bison, 63-52 at Districts