Having just played yesterday, the Kearney Bearcats will jump right back in to play the Papillion-LaVista South Titans at 4:15 p.m. on Saturday. Kearney will be looking to extend their current four-game winning streak.
On Friday, it was close, but Kearney sidestepped Lincoln Southeast for a 51-48 victory. 51 seems to be a good number for Kearney as the squad scooped up a victory with the same number of points in their previous game.
Kearney's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Ben Johnson led the charge by almost dropping a double-double on 17 points and nine rebounds. Johnson is on a roll when it comes to points, as he's now scored 15 or more in the last three games he's played. Jacob Webber was another key contributor, scoring 16 points.
Meanwhile, Papillion-LaVista South pushed their score all the way to 59 on Friday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They were just a bucket shy of victory and fell 60-59 to Papillion-LaVista. Papillion-LaVista South's loss signaled the end of their three-game winning streak.
Despite their defeat, Papillion-LaVista South saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Bryson Bahl, who dropped a double-double on 12 points and 12 rebounds, was perhaps the best of all. Bahl hasn't dropped below two blocks for three straight games. Another player making a difference was Reece Kircher, who scored 15 points along with eight rebounds and two steals.
Kearney is on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last 11 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 14-5 record this season. As for Papillion-LaVista South, their defeat dropped their record down to 12-7.
Kearney couldn't quite finish off Papillion-LaVista South when the teams last played back in January of 2022 and fell 56-53. Thankfully for Kearney, Daniel Brocaille (who almost dropped a double-double on 23 points and nine rebounds) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
