The Heartland Events Center in Grand Island hosted the annual Heartland Hoops Classic on Saturday. This year’s event included seven games featuring eight teams from various classes in Nebraska and four from out of state.
GAME 1: D1 No. 1 Johnson-Brock 63, C2 No. 3 Summerland 54
Johnson-Brock saw its multi-season winning streak snapped after 56 games on Thursday with a 54-48 loss at Freeman. However, the reigning Class D1 champions rebounded quickly, taking down HTRS Friday night before defeating Summerland on Saturday morning.
“We knew that Freeman game would be tough,” Johnson-Brock coach Lucus Dalinghaus said. “Hostile environment, Freeman’s a great team. We dug ourselves a hole there, down 18, but to come back within one just showed our grit. Then we had to respond; we talked about that last night against HTRS, which I thought we responded really well, and then a quick turnaround here. This is really the best thing we can do after a loss, to get back on the court.”
Johnson-Brock opened the game with a 12-5 run then used a 7-0 run to build a nine-point lead early in the second quarter, but each time the Bobcats answered. Summerland rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to take a 36-35 lead thanks to a 13-5 run, and it was close the rest of the way.
Johnson-Brock led 47-46 midway through the fourth quarter when the Eagles put together the knockout blow, closing the game on a 16-8 run with Camden Dalinghaus accounting for eight himself.
“It just seemed like every time they made a run back, we were able to hit a shot and extend our lead again,” Lucus Dalingahus said. “I don’t know, I really can’t explain it. We didn’t play great defense today. Offensively, I thought we were sluggish at times. But I guess we made enough plays at the end to win the game.”
Junior Brody Koehler led everyone with 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. Camden Dalinghaus added 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. Austin Meyer gave the Eagles a big boost inside, notching a double-double with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting (2-of-3 from 3) and 17 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end.
“Austin is, a lot of times, forgotten about,” Lucus Dalinghaus. “He’s our leading rebounder on the season right now. A lot of times, he’ll get double-digit rebounds for us, and then just being able to clean up and hit those layups under the basket is huge for us. He’s definitely a key part of this for sure.”
Alec Schindler led Summerland with 13 points, Preston Hoke added 12 and Michael Koenig chipped in 11 points and six boards.
GAME 2: C1 No. 1 Lincoln Lutheran 42, No. 9 Doniphan-Trumbull 38
Lincoln Lutheran pulled out a grinder in a top-10 Class C1 battle, building a lead then fending off a Cardinal rally in the fourth. Both teams shot under 35% from the field, and Lutheran went 7-for-16 from the foul line.
Even so, the top-ranked Warriors found a way to win.
“Toughness, that’s been our key this week,” Lutheran coach Jesse Bouwens said. “Defensively too, we made it really hard on them. They got some good looks; the rims were unkind today. I thought we rebounded really well in the second half minus maybe one or two possessions. We were tough. We finally got the ball inside a little bit more. That was our game plan from the start; we didn’t want to shoot so many 3-pointers. But we found a way. I liked our toughness today.”
Lutheran had a height and length advantage nearly across the board and had success scoring around the basket, but the Warriors attempted more 3s than 2s despite struggling from the arc. However, when Doniphan-Trumbull made a push to cut into an 11-point fourth quarter deficit, Braxton Glines and Jacob Duitsman each knocked down a 3 to stem the tide. Glines was 0-for-5 from 3 in the first three quarters before finally connecting in the fourth.
“Braxton was a 50% shooter going into this weekend … and he finally got one to go,” Bouwens said. “I think that might hopefully open the floodgates. We need that for Jacob, we need shooters to put around him so that he gets a little bit more space. Those were two big shots.”
Duitsman led Lutheran with 15 points. Grant Stowell added 12 points, seven boards and two steals.
Junior Jack Poppe scored 10 of his team-high 12 points in the fourth quarter to lead a comeback, but the Cardinals couldn’t climb all the way out of the hole. Poppe surpassed 1,000 career points in Doniphan-Trumbull’s win over Wood River on Friday.
GAME 3: C1 No. 6 Ashland-Greenwood 53, Adams Central 32
Ashland-Greenwood found itself trailing 15-10 after the first quarter as Adams Central’s zone defense gave them problems.
However, junior Derek Tonjes got himself going with eight points in the second quarter and the Bluejays never looked back, controlling the action throughout the final three quarters to earn the 21-point win.
They shot 57% from the field over the final three quarters.
“We found a way to get the ball inside,” Ashland-Greenwood coach Jacob Mohs said. “We shot 3s and we made a couple early, and then we just kind of settled and shot a lot. They did a good job taking away kind of what we wanted to do and we just kind of had to counter in that chess game of basketball and found a way to get it inside and get some buckets on the interior.”
The one Bluejay who did have success from the arc was junior Cal Kissinger, who finished with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting. He had all four of Ashalnd-Greenwood’s made 3s, on seven attempts.
“It opens things up and that’s a big thing for us is,” Mohs said of Kissinger’s shooting. “Obviously, every team wants to shoot it well, but when we shoot it well, we’ve got such good inside finishers that it does really help our team.”
Those finishers were Tonjes and Cooper Westerhold on Saturday. Tonjes finished with 20 points and four boards while Westerhold added 15 points on 5-of-8 from the field and 5-of-7 from the free-throw line plus six rebounds.
After giving up 15 points in the first quarter, the Bluejays only allowed 17 more the rest of the way as they steadily stretched their lead out. The Patriots shot just under 32% from the field.
“Tremendous job defensively in those last three quarters,” Mohs said. “I thought once they figured out the feel of the game and what the other team wants to do and how they play, I thought they did a tremendous job and they adjusted to what Adams Central does really, really well. Credit to them, that’s a really good basketball team.”
Hunter Nepple, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, was the only Patriot in double figures with 11 points and six rebounds.
The Bluejays on top 🐦@GoBluejays1 defeat Adams Central in the Heartland Hoops Classic 53-32. Derek Tonjes led the way with 20 points.#nebpreps pic.twitter.com/XYFzcUX4yM
— nebpreps (@THEnebpreps) February 15, 2025
GAME 4: C1 No. 10 Sidney 58, C2 No. 2 Grand Island Central Catholic 57
Sidney arrived in Grand Island the loser of two straight after falling at Class B No. 5 Scottsbluff last Saturday and at Chadron on Friday night. After the Chadron loss, the Red Raiders hit the road to make the 300-plus-mile trip to Grand Island
“It’s not like you change a whole lot,” Sidney coach Austin Lewis said. “You preach a lot of the same stuff to the kids, and sometimes it’s your night, sometimes it’s not. Last night up in Chadron it was not our night. They played a heck of a game to beat us, and it was kind of disheartening because we did have to travel across the state here last night, and then it turned into how we traveled across the state on Highway 2 in a blizzard from Chadron all the way here. It turned into quite a thing.”
Despite the difficult travel and disappointment, the Red Raiders pulled out a one-point victory on Saturday to hand the Crusaders their fourth loss of the season.
“I’m so proud of them, to come out and play with the type of intensity and smart play and focus, because there’s a lack of sleep, a lot of factors there, and the focus that they played with to beat a top-two-ranked C2 team was unbelievable,” Lewis said.
Sidney led by two after the first quarter and by four at halftime, largely thanks to Reid Fiscus’ 14 points on 100% shooting.
“He struggled last night,” Lewis said of Fiscus. “He had a tough night last night, so he stepped up big. He goes from having two points against Chadron to 14 for us, making some big buckets for us.”
Sidney extended its led to 10 in the fourth quarter before sophomore Braylon Wolfe sparked a comeback for the Crusaders. He hit three triples in the final period as Central Catholic whittled the lead down to two with 22 seconds left, but Keian Kaiser split a pair of free throws to push it back to three and the Red Raiders chased the Crusaders off the 3-point line. Wolfe eventually laid the ball in, but the Crusaders were out of timeouts and time expired without Sidney in-bounding the ball.
Fiscus didn’t score in the second half but still led Sidney with his 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting with a 3 and a three-point play, five boards and two steals. Landon Riddle added 12 points on 5-of-9 from the field (1-of-3 from 3) and 1-of-2 from the foul line.
Kaiser flirted with a triple-double, totaling 11 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, four steals and two blocks.
“He kind of does that,” Lewis said. “He’s an interesting kid, an interesting basketball player, because he’s a big like that, but he really can handle it and he’s got some good court sense. There are times when he’s shown up and he’s almost like he’s our point guard because he makes some nice passes and can just see the court well.”
Wolfe led the Crusaders with a game-high 17 points, finishing 5-of-8 from deep. Senior Thomas Liban added 15 points and three steals.
A close win for the Red Raiders 👀
Sidney comes out on top of GICC in a close game at the Heartland Hoops Classic, 48-47. #nebpreps pic.twitter.com/75QcgqdJbi
— nebpreps (@THEnebpreps) February 16, 2025
Class A No. 2 Papillion-La Vista South 61, Pembroke Hill (MO) 37
The Titans used a 10-0 run in the third quarter to create some separation and never looked back en route to their 19th win of the season.
Pembroke Hill answered the first two runs Papio South made, cutting an eight-point deficit first-quarter to three and then a seven-point halftime deficit to four early in the third, but Papio South ripped off 10 straight points and the Raiders ran out of steam. The Titans outscored them 29-9 the rest of the way.
The Titans limited Pembroke Hill’s top player, junior Mav Hawkins, to seven points and 2-of-12 shooting while South Dakota State-bound Bryson Ball poured in 23 points without a made 3-pointer, showing off his post game for former Jackrabbit Baylor Scheierman sitting court-side.
“We did a good job defensively on Hawkins, and he’s really their ultimate green light,” Papio South coach Joel Hueser said. “We kept them to three single-digit quarters for the game, so defensively we were pretty good. Offensively we didn’t quite have the movement with the ball and players, some uncharacteristic layup misses — it felt like we left maybe 10 points or more out on the court … By adding a little pressure [in the second half], we at least were able to speed up and get a few more possessions going.”
The Titans got 15 points from senior Jayden Herrera on 6-of-10 shooting (3-of-5 from 3) plus 13 points from sophomore Levi Webb on 3-of-5 from the field (1-of-2 from 3) and 6-of-7 from the foul line. Senior point guard Reece Kircher played distributor with eight assists — most of which came in the first half — plus six rebounds, four points and two steals.
“Right now, we’re fortunate to have more than Bryson and Reece able to score,” Hueser said. “Jayden’s been scoring well, Levi’s been scoring well, we’ve had some guys off the bench do some things. Any time you can have a third scorer, it seems like that’s kind of key, and if it’s not always the same one, that’s even more important. This time of year, you just need to have a lot of different weapons, and for us, when we share the ball, we’re that much better.”
Titans Rise Up ⚔️@PLSbasketball dominate Pembroke Hill (MO) 61-37 in the Heartland Hoops Classic.#nebpreps pic.twitter.com/WbcD5g3gnP
— nebpreps (@THEnebpreps) February 16, 2025
GAME 6: Wasatch Academy (UT) 67, Class A No. 3 Millard North 48
Fresh off a win at No. 1 Omaha Westview on Thursday, Millard North traded blows early with the prep powerhouse Wasatch Academy out of Utah. However, the Tigers had too much power and eventually pulled away for the near-20-point win.
Wasatch features McDonald’s All-American and Houston commit Isiah Harwell, New Mexico State commit Augustine Ekwe (a 6-foot-9 post) and four-star junior point guard Katrelle Harmon, but it was two others who led the team against Millard North. Junior guard Manu Manciel hit five 3s and finished with a game0-high 21 points while senior James Miller chipped in 13 points off the bench. Wasatch shot nearly 57% from the field, and the Mustangs couldn’t keep pace.
“Really the big thing is just the speed of the game that they play at and how we can get better at playing at that speed,” Millard North coach Mike Etzelmiller said. “Because if we can play with them for maybe even just spurts of the game — I felt like we did an OK job at times, and then just consistently for a long period of time, they were too quick, too long, too athletic.”
Millard North got off to a good start, using an 8-0 run to take an 11-5 lead early. Wasatch countered with nine unanswered before Derek Rollins scored inside to close out the first quarter.
Stops were few and far between for the Mustangs in the second quarter, but they were able to keep pace for a big as five different Mustangs scored in the period. However, Wasatch closed the first half with a 7-0 run then scored the first five points of the third as well to stretch its lead to 16, and the Tigers continued to roll from there.
“They didn’t fear them,” Etzelmiller said of his team. “That’s one thing that we said, there’s really nothing to lose … When we go play talent like this, I really think that it helps. Maybe we’re a little more confident in how we play and what we do. I thought defensively when we played them five-on-five in the halfcourt, we got some stops and we did some things that maybe made them uncomfortable. But transition was a different story. They got runs and they get defensive rebounds and one, two passes and layups.”
Rollins led the Mustangs with 14 points. Junior Major Mosser added 12 points on 4-of-8 from 3. Senior point guard Amari Rahaman added nine rebounds, eight points, three assists and three steals.
GAME 7: Mt. Zion Prep (MD) 62, Sunrise Christian Academy (KS) 57
Mt. Zion Senior guards Jerome Williams and Donovan Peterson put on a show for the fans that stuck around for the nightcap, combining for 40 points to lead the Warriors past Heartland Hoops Classic regular Sunrise Christian.
The Buffaloes led 19-15 after the first quarter, but Mt. Zion opened the second with an 8-0 run to surge ahead with Williams converting a handful of highlight-reel plays. He scored 16 of his game-high 21 in the first half as the Warriors took a 29-26 edge into the locker room.
Peterson took over in the third quarter, scoring nine of his 19 in the period as Mt. Zion stretched its lead out to 13 at multiple points.
Sunrise Christian opened the fourth with a pair of high-flying dunks from Noah Hill to spark a rally, but the closes the Buffaloes could get was four points as the Warriors held on.
Jacob Walker scored 13 of his team-high 16 in the second half for Sunrise while big man Ivan Jurić did the heavy lifting early, scoring 10 of his 15 in the first quarter.
A number of fans hopped on the Mt. Zion bandwagon for the game and showed the Warriors some love after the victory.
