LINCOLN – For the fourth straight year, the Winnebago Indians qualified for the Boys State Basketball Tournament. Thursday evening they started a three-game stretch in three days.
From the Bob Devaney Sports Center, #2 Winnebago competed with #7 Syracuse in Class C1.
The Syracuse Rockets struck early before Winnebago came back in the first quarter to lead 12-11. The Indians added to their lead with a 15-13 second quarter to go up 27-24 at the break. Then, Winnebago took control in the third quarter with a 17-9 score before slowing the pace of the game in the fourth where Syracuse outscored Bago, 17-15. Final found #2 Winnebago winning 59-50 to improve to 21-6 while the Rockets were eliminated with a 17-10 record.
Senior D’Von LaPointe paced Winnebago in scoring with 17 points (11 in the second) followed by another 16 (10 in the third) from fellow senior Maurice Scott. Senior MaNaPe Cleveland tallied 11 points (seven in the fourth) and Winnebago as a team went 7-11 from the foul line.
Syracuse was led in scoring by senior Trevor Brinkman with 16 points. Junior Ben Nannen added 11 points and junior Wil McCoy recorded 10 points for the Rockets who went 13-20 from the free throw line.
The #2-seed in Class C1, Winnebago Indians will next be in action Friday mid-morning from the Pinnacle Bank Arena. Winnebago will take on #3 Broken Bow who beat #6 Boone Central/Newman Grove Thursday late afternoon, 66-64 in double overtime. Pregame coverage will get underway at 10:30 a.m. on Big Red Country 104.9 and online at waynedailynews.com.
