Basketball Recap: Layne Ruzicka's Big Game Can't Quite Lead North Bend Central over Howells-Dodge

North Bend Central easily dispatched Tekamah-Herman last Tuesday, but unfortunately both the margin and the ultimate result were a different story in this one. The North Bend Central Tigers fell just short of the Howells-Dodge Jaguars by a score of 63-61 on Thursday. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest defeat the Tigers have suffered since December 5, 2023.

Layne Ruzicka

Points

02/13/25 vs Howells-Dodge	24
02/11/25 @ Tekamah-Herman	19
02/07/25 @ Oakland-Craig	22
02/04/25 vs Bancroft-Rosalie	25

North Bend Central lost despite a true team effort on offense. The best among them was Layne Ruzicka, who posted 24 points. His evening made it four games in a row in which he has scored at least 19 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Drew Sterup, who put up ten points and five assists.

North Bend Central dropped their record down to 12-10 with the loss, which was their fourth straight at home. As for Howells-Dodge, the win was the eighth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 19-4.

North Bend Central has already played their next match, a 56-51 defeat against Fort Calhoun on the 21st. As for Howells-Dodge, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 61-52 loss against Lutheran-Northeast on the 21st.