On a misty Saturday evening, West Holt boys' basketball team and fans flooded the Summerland court after knocking off the Bobcats, 55-49, in the Niobrara Valley Conference Tournament Championship.

The Bobcats had the potential to defeat the Huskies for a third time this season but West Holt went on a 22-8 run in the second quarter to secure the win.

"In the championship, I think West Holt just wanted it a little bit more than us. It's hard enough to beat somebody twice in a year, let alone three times," Coach Brett Kaczor said.

The Bobcats led after the first eight minutes of play, but West Holt hit multiple three-point shots to take a 10-point lead to the locker room.

Preston Hoke scored a baker's dozen to lead the Bobcats.

"It's tough to win three games in five days. I thought our guys did some really good things over this stretch, but we just didn't execute at a high enough level," Kaczor said. "It seemed like West Holt got to more loose balls than us and executed better offensively. We kept ourselves in the ball game, but we just were never able to get the lead back and put real pressure on them. We fell short of winning the NVC title, but hopefully we can use this as a motivating factor for the rest of the year.

Kaczor said his squad will face three quality opponents to end the regular season.

"EPPJ is a physical group that will be looking to get some momentum to finish the year. Lutheran High NE is maybe the most athletic team we will see all year.

They've played some really good basketball this year. We finish up with Boyd County who has competed with almost everybody on their schedule. We need to lock in these last two weeks and keep improving so we can be playing our best basketball as the post season approaches," he said.

Semifinals

After trailing Elkhorn Valley by two points at the end of the first quarter, Summerland's defense stepped up to outscore the Falcons in quarters two and three in the conference semifinal played at West Holt. EV won the fourth quarter scoring, but it was too little, too late, giving the Bobcats a 47-40 win.

Preston Hoke led the Bobcats with 17 points. Carter Bergman pulled down eight rebounds.

Amy Kerkman | SAM

Runners-up • The Summerland boys' basketball team displays the second-place plaque after a 55-49 loss to West Holt, in the Niobrara Valley Conference tournament consolation game, played Saturday at Summerland. Team members include (front row, l-r): Coach Ed Johnson, Coach Brett Kaczor, Dylan Rotherham, Sam Cheatum, Parker Napier, Barrett Stearns, Coach Blake Hoke; (back row, l-r): Christian Behnk, Preston Hoke, Carter Bergman, Michael Koenig, Alec Schindler and (not pictured): Ryan Rifer

"We beat a quality Santee team then battled through a win in another physical game with Elkhorn Valley," Kaczor said.

Quarterfinals

The Bobcats opened tourney play with an 8-61 win over Santee.

Summerland pounced early in the first quarter, leading 28-13 and extended the margin to 49-28 at the half.

Michael Koenig led the team with 26 points and Alec Schindler added 19.