Falcons eliminate Bobcats from conference play

A stagnant third quarter from the Bobcats led to elimination from Niobrara Valley Conference tournament play after Elkhorn Valley downed Summerland, 44-25.

The teams met in the first round, Saturday, at O'Neill St. Mary's.

The Bobcats were slow to score in the first quarter and played catch up, finding themselves trailing by five, 11 - 6.

Both teams held steady in the second quarter and Summerland went to the locker room down, 23 - 17.

Turnovers and limited shot attempts plagued the Bobcats in the third, as EV went on a 13-2 run, to go up 36-19.

The Bobcats scored six points in the final quarter.

Dillon Moser took a charge early that knocked him out of the game.

Coach Jacob Birch said, "When he came back, he had several rebounds and did a nice job improving on making his free throws."

Keegan Smith and Moser led Summerland with seven apiece.

Kellen Mlnarik added six points and Logan Eacker chipped in for five.

Birch said as a team, it was not a good performance for the Bobcats.

"We will look to use this week and into next (we now have eight practices in a row) to improve and get back to the basics. We have had a long stretch of games with limited practiced time, so this will be a change of pace," said the coach.

With the elimination, Summerland will be idle until Feb. 11, when they will meet Elgin Public/Pope John, in Clearwater.

Statistics versus EV:

Jaykwon Petite: 1s, 2to

Mason Hoke: 2r, 2a, 2s, 2to

Smith: 7p, 1r, 2s, 6to

Dalton Rotherham: 1r, 2a, 1s, 3bl, 1to

Ty Rix: 3r, 1s, 2to

Moser: 7p, 6r, 1to

Eacker: 5p, 2r

Mlnarik: 6p, 3r, 2s, 1bl, 2to

Joe Ahlers: 2r, 3to