Kimball places 2nd in holiday tournament

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Wins overtime thriller The Kimball Boys Basketball B-Squad played in the annual holiday tournament in Lester Prairie Wednesday-Thursday, Dec. 28-29. Kimball began the tournament facing the host school Lester Prairie and played a tight first half, with the Cubs holding a 30-26 lead at halftime. In the second half, Kimball stretched their lead and took over the game, pulling away by a final score of 60-46. Sam Scheeler scored a game high 22 points in his best performance of the season. Teammate Andy Dingmann also played very well, finishing with 20 points and Scott Nystrom scored 18 points. In the championship game, Kimball faced Belle Plain and suffered their worst first half of basketball of the season as they closed out the first half scoring only 12 points, while giving up 38. The basket seemed to have shrunk for the young Cubs while they also struggled to get back on defense to slow down Belle Plains uptempo offense. In the second half, however, Kimball proved they could play with their opponent by outscoring them 28-24, but the first half lead was too much to overcome. Belle Plain finished with a 62-40 victory, and the Cubs settled for a second place finish. Scheeler again led the team in scoring with 13 points. Scott Nystrom had 11, Andy Dingmann and Bobby Arens each had four, Travis Erickson and Eric Nystrom each chipped in three, while Jared Mackereth scored 2 points to round out the scoring. Overall, Kimball played well and improved in the two-day tournament.  On Friday, Jan. 5, Kimball B-Squad won in an overtime thriller. Belgrade Brooten Elrosa traveled to Kimball for the teams first conference matchup of the season. Kimball jumped out to 25-18 halftime lead but in the second half, the Cubs had lost their lead and would have to claw their way back to victory. Andy Dingmann hit a clutch 3-point basket to help send the game into overtime where Kimball again found themselves trailing, this time by 1 point with 15 seconds remaining. Dingmann stepped up a second time by sinking a game winning field goal with three seconds remaining to finish an exciting contest. Dingmann finished a wonderful performance scoring 15 points,   Eric Nystrom played his best game so far this season contributing 11 points, Scott Nystrom had 9, Travis Erickson 6, Bobby Arens 6, and Sam Scheeler 4.  It was a great team effort as the team combined for seven 3-point baskets on the night and shot 10 for 10 from the free-throw line, needing every one of them in the 51-50 overtime win.