East tops West in all-star tilt

After being as close as it could be for three quarters, Saturday night's 19th annual Southeast Nebraska All-Star Boys Basketball Game tilted to the East's favor in the final period.

The East defeated the West, 83-69, at Southeast Community College-Beatrice's Truman Center.

“I thought the other team might have had a few more athletes than what we did,” East coach Don Hogue of Falls City said, “but we told our kids we just wanted to play hard and play as a team.”

Hogue said the East players did a good job of distributing the ball around and getting good shots throughout the game.

In the fourth quarter, Hogue said the East “continued to push the ball” and got some easy buckets.

Hogue said the East team also played well defensively.

“Anytime you can get some stops defensively in an all-star game, you're bound to get some separation in the score,” Hogue said.

East point guard Josh Taylor of Firth Norris was named as the game's Most Valuable Player.

Hogue said from practice the coaches knew Taylor and Scott Hrabik from Syracuse would be the team's point guards.

“Both of those gentlemen did great things for us tonight,” Hogue said. “They handled things and didn't turn the ball over and got the ball to our shooters.”

West coach Jesse Gronemeyer from DeWitt Tri County said his team had a tough time shooting the ball at times.

“We have good shooters, but it's summer and some of these guys haven't been playing,” Gronemeyer said. “You have to shoot a lot to be on.”

The West didn't shoot the ball well from the perimeter or the free-throw line, overall, Gronemeyer said.

Gronemeyer said the East simply shot the ball better than the West, which was the difference in the game.

“I thought we'd be able to push the ball up and down the floor and get some easy baskets,” Gronemeyer said. “But when we tried to push it, we turned the ball over and they got a lot of transition on us.”

Rebounding also hurt the West, Gronemeyer said.

“The East definitely outrebounded us,” Gronemeyer said. “Between the turnovers and the rebounds and the shooting percentage, a lot of little things added up.”

The game was tied at 57-all at the end of the third quarter, but the East took over the final period outscoring the West 26-14.

Falls City Sacred Heart's Michael Olberding hit a bucket to put the East up by nine points, 67-58, with 4:22 left in the game.

Syracuse's Austin Landwehr added a bucket to make it 69-58 east.

Another bucket by Olberding put the East put 71-58 with 2:53 remaining.

The West's Tyler Weatherholt of Seward stopped the East run with a bucket, making the score 71-60 with 2:36 left.

Falls City's Kasey Huppert hit a three to extend the East advantage to 14 points and then Pawnee City's Tyler Derby connected on a trey to make it a 77-60 contest with 1:46 left.

After a single free throw by the West's Weatherholt, Wilber-Clatonia's Logan Oliva hit a three to make it a 77-64 game with 1:33 remaining.

Back-to-back two-pointers by Derby allowed the East to go up 71-64 with 1:01 left, but Oliva struck again for the West from behind the arc, hitting a three to make it an 81-67 game.

In the final 15 seconds, the East's Justin Yates of Adams Freeman and the West's Evan Bodtke of York exchanged field goals, leaving the final score at 83-69 East.

Derby led the East in scoring with 13 points, while Olberding and Huppert also finished in double-scoring figures with 10 each.

The West's Oliva led all scorers in the game with 19 points, including five three-point goals.

Gronemeyer said Oliva “did a tremendous job” of shooting the ball.

“We knew coming in he doesn't need much space to shoot,” Gronemeyer said. “He hit shots with guys right in his face.”

East 13 20 24 26-83

West 13 12 30 14-69

East ( 83 )

Josh Taylor, Firth Norris, three; Michael Olberding, Falls City Sacred Heart, 10; Note Ritchie, Nebraska City, two; Tyler Derby, Pawnee City, 13; Taylor Bartels, Tecumseh, eight; Scott Hrabik, Syracuse, did not score; Kasey Huppert, Falls City, 10; Justin Yates, Adams Freeman, eight; Austin Landwehr, Syracuse, eight; Jacob Bartek, Falls City, nine; Tim Sisco, Lewiston, seven; Jim Lance, Nebraska City Lourdes, five.

West ( 69 )

Brent Menke, Beatrice, two; Tyler Pieper, DeWitt Tri County, two; Logan Oliva, Wilber-Clatonia, 19; Shad Siebrandt, Tri County, five; Jake Bergen, Sutton, eight; Evan Bodtke ,York, eight; Trey Simpson, Fairbury, two; Tyler Weatherholt, Seward, five; Landon Freitag, Deshler, five; Dexter Spitsnogle, Diller-Odell, four; Cuyler Henry, Deshler, five; Sam Blake, Utica-Centennial, four.

Three-point goals: East six (Derby one, Bartels one, Huppert two, Yates two). West six (Oliva five, Henry one).