Ogallala Boys' defeat Auburn in High School Varsity Basketball in Class C1 State Tournament Third Place Game on Saturday, March 14th, 2026

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By: Evan Troxel

The #1 seeded Ogallala Indians High School Boys' Varsity Basketball team defeated the #3 seeded Auburn Bulldogs 61 to 49 in the Class C1 State Tournament Third Place Game on Saturday, March 14th, 2026, at Lincoln Northeast High School in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Auburn played in the game because of their loss to Ashland-Greenwood on Friday, March 13th, 2026, by a final score of 67 to 52.

Ogallala played in the game because of their loss to Douglas County West on Friday, March 13th, 2026, by a final score of 43 to 39.

Brenton Wenzl scored 23 points for Auburn. He made six three-pointers and just one free throw!

Sawyer Smith scored a team-high 19 points for Ogallala in his final high school basketball game. He made two three-pointers and five free throws!

To start the game, Ryan Guenther made two free throws for Auburn.

Then, Edan Cain made a two-pointer for Ogallala with 6:06 remaining in the first quarter.

Lincoln Gillen then hit a three for the Indians with 5:03 left in the first quarter.

After Brayan Palmer only made the second of two free throws for the Bulldogs, Sawyer Smith connected on a three for Ogallala and the Indians led 8 to 3.

Auburn was 0 for 4 from the field with 3:50 remaining in the first quarter.

Edan Cain then made a three for Ogallala.

Ryan Guenther then made a two-pointer for Auburn.

Sawyer Smith then only made the first of two free throws and Ogallala led 12 to 5 with 1:48 to go in the opening period.

Edan Cain then made two free throws for the Indians.

Auburn was 1 for 9 from the field at about this point of the first quarter.

Creighton Keeling then made a two-pointer for the Bulldogs and after one quarter Ogallala led 14 to 7.

To start the second quarter, Sawyer Smith made two free throws for the Indians.

Brayan Palmer then made a two-pointer for the Bulldogs.

Tanner DeCastro then made a two-pointer and Ogallala led 18 to 9.

Creighton Keeling then made a two-pointer for Auburn and Edan Cain made a two for Ogallala and the scored was 20 to 11 in favor of the Indians with 5:11 left to go in the second quarter.

After Brenton Wenzl only made the second of three free throws for Auburn, Lincoln Gillen connected on a three for Ogallala.

Sawyer Smith then made a two-pointer for the Indians and he also made a three-point basket and Ogallala led 28 to 12 with 3:16 remaining in the second period.

Brenton Wenzl made a three for Auburn.

Then, Lincoln Gillen made a two-pointer and Ogallala led 30 to 15.

Ryan Guenther then only made the first of two free throws for Auburn.

Creighton Keeling then hit a three for the Bulldogs and Ryan Guenther made a two-pointer for Auburn and Ogallala led 30 to 21.

Sawyer Smith then made a two-pointer for the Indians and after two-quarters Ogallala led 32 to 21.

In the first half, the top scorers for Auburn was Ryan Guenther and Creighton Keeling each with seven points.

Guenther made three free throws while Keeling made one three-pointer in the first half.

For Ogallala, Sawyer Smith scored a team-high 13 points in the first half. He made two three-pointers and three free throws in the first half.

Edan Cain and Lincoln Gillen were also top scorers in the first half for Ogallala.

Edan Cain scored nine points by making one three-pointer and two free throws while Lincoln Gillen made two three-pointers in the first half.

To start the second half, Auburn scored first thanks to a Creighton Keeling two-pointer.

Sawyer Smith then made two more free throws for the Indians and Ogallala led 34 to 23.

Brenton Wenzl then drained his first three-pointer of the second half for the Bulldogs.

Rylan Gilmore then responded with his first points of the game for the Indians in his final high school basketball game with a three-pointer!

Sawyer Smith then made a two-pointer for Ogallala and Auburn called timeout with 5:04 left in the third quarter and Ogallala leading 39 to 26.

Rylan Gilmore then made a two for Ogallala and Brenton Wenzl made a two-point basket for Auburn.

Carson Lavigne then drained a three for the Bulldogs and Ogallala led only by ten 41 to 31 with 2:46 remaining in the third quarter.

Brenton Wenzl then scored his third three of the game for Auburn and Ogallala led 41 to 34 with 1:13 to go in the third period.

Edan Cain then responded with a three-point make for Ogallala and after three quarters the Indians led 44 to 34.

To start the fourth quarter, Brenton Wenzl got back to where he left off by hitting another three for the Bulldogs with 7:05 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Rylan Gilmore then responded with a three-pointer of his own and Ogallala kept a ten-point advantage.

Creighton Keeling then made a two-pointer for Auburn.

Lincoln Gillen then made his third three-pointer of the game for the Indians and Ogallala led 50 to 39.

Brenton Wenzl then made a two-pointer for Auburn and Sawyer Smith made his final two-point basket ever as a high school student in a Varsity basketball game for Ogallala with 4:39 left in the fourth quarter.

Ryan Guenther then got on the scoreboard again with another two for the Bulldogs.

Rylan Gilmore then only made the first of two free throws and Ogallala still led by ten 53 to 43.

Edan Cain then made a three and his final points of his high school career in a Varsity game for Ogallala.

Brenton Wenzl then made his fifth and six three-pointers of the game for Auburn and Ogallala led by just seven 56 to 49 with 2:34 remaining in the fourth quarter.

Lincoln Gillen then drained a three-pointer for the Indians and Ogallala led 59 to 49 with 2:00 to go in the fourth period.

Edan Cain then picked up his fourth foul of the game for Ogallala with 1:44 to go in the fourth period.

Edan and Sawyer Smith each finished the game with four fouls in their final high school Varsity basketball game for Ogallala.

Lincoln Gillen then made a two-pointer with 29 seconds left in the fourth for Ogallala and the Indians won by a final score of 61 to 49.

For Auburn in the second half, the top scorer was Brenton Wenzl with 19 points.

For Ogallala in the second half, the top scorers were Rylan Gilmore with nine points, Lincoln Gillen with eight points and Edan Cain and Sawyer Smith each with six points.

For Auburn, Creighton Keeling scored 11 points. He made one three-pointer.

Ryan Guenther scored nine points. He made three free throws.

Carson Lavigne totaled three points because of a three-point make.

Brayan Palmer also scored three points for Auburn. He made one free throw.

The Class of 2026 for Auburn totaled 37 points on Saturday.

For Ogallala, Lincoln Gillen scored 16 points. He made four three-pointers!

Edan Cain scored 15 points. He made three three-pointers and two free throws.

Rylan Gilmore scored nine points. He made two three-pointers and one free throw.

Tanner DeCastro scored two points for Ogallala on a two-point make.

The Class of 2026 for Ogallala totaled 43 points on Saturday.

Auburn finished the season 25-3 while Ogallala finished the season 27-1.

Auburn will be looking to get back to the State Championship Game as they were in the state title game for six straight seasons winning it three straight times during the 2018, 2019, and 2020 seasons.

The Auburn Class of 2026 won 92 games and lost just 16 games in Varsity High School Basketball. The Auburn Class of 2027 will come into the 2026-27 season with 73 wins and 9 losses in Varsity High School Basketball.

The Ogallala Class of 2026 won 101 games and lost just 9 games in Varsity High School Basketball. The Ogallala Class of 2027 will come into the 2026-27 season with 73 wins and 8 losses in Varsity High School Basketball.

Ashland-Greenwood (now 28-1) survived against Douglas County West (now 23-7) and won 42 to 39 in the Class C1 State Championship Game.

The Ashland-Greenwood Bluejays have now won four championships in the last five years with two of those wins coming against Auburn in the 2021-22 and the 2022-2023 seasons.

The last time Ashland-Greenwood didn't win the state championship, they finished in fourth place during the 2023-24 season.

The Ashland-Greenwood Class of 2026 won 103 games and lost 12 games in Varsity High School Basketball. The Ashland-Greenwood Class of 2027 will come into the 2026-27 season with 76 wins and 10 losses in Varsity High School Basketball.

The Douglas County West Class of 2026 won 82 games and lost 25 games in Varsity High School Basketball. The Douglas County West Class of 2027 will come into the 2026-27 season with 67 wins and 16 losses in Varsity High School Basketball.

The Ogallala Indians will likely have a bunch of players returning next season and they are going to have to get a lot better between now and the start of the next high school basketball season if they really want to make a very deep postseason run next season like they did this year.

Ogallala next season will be losing three Senior starters named Edan Cain, Rylan Gilmore and Sawyer Smith (with plenty of experience) this season who will not be back ever again at least on the court in a High School Varsity basketball game.

Jacob Fanning and Blake Robb also are Seniors this year for Ogallala.

So the Indians will be spending the next eight months (or so) trying to figure out who will be the starters and the first few guys off the bench before the start of the high school basketball season next season.

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