The Kearney Bearcats will face off against the Bryan Bears at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Kearney has three straight victories, Bryan has four straight losses), but none of that matters once you're on the court.
On Tuesday, Kearney needed a bit of extra time to put away Lincoln Southeast. They had just enough and edged the Knights out 73-70. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Bearcats have posted since February 9th.
| 12/10/24 vs Lincoln Southeast | 29 |
| 12/07/24 @ Lincoln East | 21 |
| 12/06/24 @ Elkhorn South | 19 |
| 02/27/24 vs Gretna | 15 |
Ben Johnson and Jacob Webber were among the main playmakers for Kearney as the former dropped a double-double on 28 points and 11 boards and the latter posted 29 points and eight rebounds. Webber's evening made it four games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jake Kracl, who put up 11 points and eight rebounds.
Meanwhile, it's never fun to lose, and it's even less fun to lose 85-46, which was the final score in Bryan's tilt against Omaha South on Wednesday. For those keeping track at home, that's the biggest defeat the Bears have suffered against the Packers since January 10, 2020.
Loss or not, Bryan got some senior leadership from Kaleb Kimble and Deon Darnell. Kimble went 5 of 12 on his way to 20 points, while Darnell had 17 points along with seven boards and three steals. The dominant performance gave Darnell a new career-high in steals.
Kearney's victory bumped their record up to 3-0. As for Bryan, their defeat dropped their record down to 0-3.
Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: Kearney has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 30 boards per game. However, it's not like Bryan struggles in that department as they've been averaging 20 rebounds. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.
Kearney strolled past Bryan in their previous matchup back in February by a score of 66-50. Will Kearney repeat their success, or does Bryan have a new game plan this time around? We'll find out soon enough.
