The Kearney Bearcats were the 42-40 winner over the Pius X Thunderbolts when they last played one another back in February of 2023, but their luck changed this time around. Kearney fell just short of the Thunderbolts by a score of 68-66. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game last Saturday (63), Kearney still had to take the loss.
Kearney's loss on Tuesday came despite strong showings from Ben Johnson and Asher Endorf. Johnson scored 25 points along with five assists, while Endorf scored 19 points along with eight rebounds and seven assists. Endorf has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last three times he's played. Another player making a difference was Karter Lee, who scored nine points along with six assists and two steals.
Even though they lost, Kearney were working as a unit and finished the game with 18 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Pius X only racked up nine assists.
Pius X's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Kellan Humm led the charge by scoring 17 points along with six rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Adam Searcey, who scored 12 points along with five rebounds.
This is the second loss in a row for Kearney and nudges their season record down to 10-5. As for Pius X, the victory was the eighth in a row for them, bringing their record for this year to 12-4.
Kearney will look to defend their home court on Friday against the Bears at 7:00 p.m. The matchup should be an exciting one, as these teams are closely ranked in Nebraska (Bryan is ranked 31st, while the Bearcats are ranked 41st). As for Pius X, they will head out on the road to take on the Navigators at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Lincoln North Star is on a three-game streak of home wins, the Thunderbolts a six-game streak of away wins -- so someone will have to leave a streak behind on the court.
