BBB: Ogallala defeats Cozad 65-63 at the end of regulation

(Photo Credit: Wallpapercave.com)

By: Evan Troxel

The Ogallala High School Boys' Varsity basketball team defeated the Cozad Haymakers 65 to 63 on a walk-off game winning layup as time expired from the left side by Ogallala's Edan Cain on Friday night, January 10th, 2025, on the Steve Morgan Court at the Prairie View Gymnasium in Ogallala, Nebraska.

Kellen Shoemaker led all scorers on both teams with 21 points and he made six three-point shots and he made a three-point play for his one non-three pointer on Friday night.

Shoemaker also was the only player who fouled out for either team and he fouled out near the end of the game.

Because Shoemaker fouled out when Cozad seemingly only needed probably only one more two-point shot to win the game late in the fourth quarter, it gave Ogallala an opportunity to win the game at the end of regulation which is something Ogallala seemingly didn't have when Shoemaker was on the basketball court.

Shoemaker scored just three points in the first half.

Cozad had five players finish with at least three fouls including Shoemaker.

Ogallala's Tanner DeCastro led Ogallala with 17 points and scored 13 of them in the second half. He made just one free throw in the entire game and all the rest of his shots were two-point makes.

Cozad's Olliver Davis scored 15 points. He made one three-pointer and two free throws.

Chayden Hoffmaster made three free throws and a two-point shot and finished with 10 points total.

Noah Shoemaker scored nine points total as he made two threes and three free throws. Noah also was named to the Shrine Bowl I believe for High School football in Nebraska recently.

Mason Fales scored four points and made two free throws. Julien Davis made a three-pointer. Gage Strauss scored one point.

For Ogallala, Edan Cain scored 16 points and he made two key three-point shots to keep Ogallala within striking distance in the second half. Cain scored just six points in the first half.

Rylan Gilmore scored 15 points on Friday night, including 14 in the first half. He made three threes and two free throws. Gilmore finished with four fouls.

Sawyer Smith scored just 13 points and he only scored five in the first half. Smith made one three-pointer and four free throws. Smith finished with four fouls.

Cy Lowery scored three points for Ogallala and made three free throws.

DeCastro, Smith and Cain's scoring in the second half for Ogallala may have been the major difference on Friday night.

Cozad led Ogallala 20-17 after the first quarter.

The score was Ogallala 28, Cozad 29 with 1:18 left in the second quarter. Cozad then led Ogallala 31 to 29 with 56.6 seconds left in the second quarter.

The score at halftime was tied at 31.

Cozad started to pull away thanks to five three-pointers in the second half alone by Kellen Shoemaker and Cozad led Ogallala 51 to 44 at the end of the third quarter.

Ogallala then stormed back to make the score Ogallala 52, Cozad 53, with 4:56 left in the fourth quarter.

Cozad then led 60-55 with 2:39 I believe left in the 4th quarter and they also led 63 to 59 late in the fourth quarter.

The entire Ogallala defense stepped up at the end of the game which was led by Sawyer Smith who had a few key and critical steals and Ogallala tied up the score at 63 on an Edan Cain layup from the right side with not much time left in regulation I believe.

Ogallala then got the ball after a Cozad turnover and Sawyer Smith called timeout near half court with 11.8 seconds left.

Ogallala then got the ball across half court and tried to score, but I believe the ball went out of bounds underneath the left side of the hoop with somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.5 seconds left.

Edan Cain inbounded the ball I believe, Cain threw the ball to Sawyer Smith on the left high elbow near the free throw line and Smith was double teamed and Smith threw the ball back to Cain for an easy layup on the left side as the ball went into the basket with under one second left and just exited the net with 0.1 seconds left and the game clock expired and Ogallala won the game 65 to 63!

Cozad fell to 9-2 overall on the season and 1-1 in Class C-1 District 11 play while Ogallala improved to 11-0 overall and 1-0 in Class C-1 District 11 play.

Cozad is ranked eighth in Class C-1 according to nsaahome.org's wild card points while Ogallala is currently ranked third in Class C-1 based on the wild card points from the Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA).

So both teams are in good shape I think to make the top 16 teams after Subdistricts if they just keep winning a lot more games than they lose.

Ogallala has now won at least three games this season by ten points or less.

Cozad won the Junior Varsity High School Boys' game against Ogallala 83 to 30. Cozad's Owen Ross scored 22 points and Ethan Atchison scored 18. Julien Davis scored 12.

Ogallala's Asher Barbee scored 10 points.