Ogallala Boys' defeat Holdrege in High School Varsity and Junior Varsity Basketball on Friday, February 13th, 2026; Ogallala now 20-0 in Varsity games

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By: Evan Troxel

The Ogallala Indians Boys' High School Varsity basketball team defeated the Holdrege Dusters 82-48 on Friday, February 13th, 2026, on the Steve Morgan Court at the Prairie View Gymnasium in Ogallala, Nebraska.

The Indians improved to 19-0 with the win while the Dusters fell to 6-14 in the regular season.

Brycen Samuelson scored 14 points for Holdrege. He made three three-pointers and three free throws.

Sawyer Smith scored 21 points for Ogallala. He made one three-pointer.

Holdrege started the game with three three-pointers with one each from Barrett Schroeder, Baron Medina and Brycen Samuelson and lead 9-0 with 6:15 left in the opening quarter.

Ogallala then went to work and scored a lot of points before Holdrege scored again with two-pointers from Sawyer Smith, Edan Cain, and Sawyer Smith twice again and Blake Robb and the Indians led 10-9 with 4:13 to go in the first quarter.

Rylan Gilmore for Ogallala then made a couple of free throws, Tanner DeCastro had a dunk, and Sawyer Smith and Tanner DeCastro each made two-pointers and the Indians led 18-9 with 56.5 seconds left in the first quarter.

Rhys Gilmore then made only the second of two free throws and Tanner DeCastro had a two and Ogallala led 21-9 after one quarter.

Rylan Gilmore then made only the second of two free throws, then he made a two-pointer and then hit a free throw immediately after the two and Ogallala led 25-9.

Barrett Schroeder then made another three for Holdrege and Ogallala's 25-point scoring run finally ended.

Edan Cain and Sawyer Smith each made a two-pointer for Ogallala.

Then, Lucas Johnson made a two for Holdrege and the Indians led 29-14 with 4:53 to go in the second quarter.

Brycen Samuelson then hit a three while Baron Medina made a two for Holdrege and Ogallala led by ten, 29-19.

Rhys Gilmore then made a couple of free throws and Sawyer Smith hit a three from the right 45 degree angle and Ogallala led 34-19.

Brycen Samuelson then made a couple of free throws for Holdrege while Lucas Johnson made a two-pointer.

Tanner DeCastro made another dunk for Ogallala and the Indians led 36-23 with 1:53 to go until halftime.

DeCastro then hit a three for Ogallala and Rylan Gilmore made a two.

Baron Medina then only made the first of two free throws for Holdrege and Ogallala led 41-24.

Tanner DeCastro then hit a three for Ogallala while Holdrege's Barrett Schroeder hit his third three of the game!

DeCastro then hit his third three of the game for the Indians before a two-pointer from Sawyer Smith and Ogallala led at halftime 49-27.

In the first half, Barrett Schroeder had nine points, Brycen Samuelson had eight points and Baron Medina had six points for Holdrege.

For Ogallala, Tanner DeCastro scored 17 points, Sawyer Smith had 15 points and Rylan Gilmore totaled eight points.

To start the second half, Cam Waldo made a three for Holdrege.

Then, Sawyer Smith made a two for Ogallala.

Barrett Schroeder then made a three for Holdrege and Ogallala led 51-33.

Rylan Gilmore and Blake Robb then each made a two-pointer and the Indians led 55-33 with 4:55 left in the third quarter.

Edan Cain then completed a three-point play with a two-pointer and a free throw immediately afterwards for Ogallala.

Edan then made a two-pointer and two more free throws and Ogallala led 62-33.

Brycen Samuelson them made only the first of two free throws for Holdrege.

Cy Lowery for Ogallala then made a two-pointer and a free throw immediately afterwards.

Brycen Samuelson then made his third three of the game for Holdrege!

Ogallala led over Holdrege after three quarters 65-37.

To start the fourth quarter, Lucas Johnson made a two-pointer for Holdrege while Blake Robb made a two for Ogallala.

Rylan Gilmore, Sawyer Smith and Edan Cain each made two-pointers for Ogallala and the Indians led 73-39.

Brycen Samuelson then made a two-pointer for Holdrege.

Sawyer Smith and Edan Cain then made two-point baskets for Ogallala and the Indians led 77-41.

Baron Medina then hit a three-pointer for Holdrege.

Rylan Gilmore then made a dunk for Ogallala and Holdrege trailed Ogallala 79-44 with 3:40 left in the fourth quarter.

Marcus May and Zach Ptacnik each made two-pointers for Holdrege.

Then, Anthony Perrin made a three-pointer (I believe in the left corner) for Ogallala and the Indians won the game by a final score of 82-48.

For Holdrege, Barrett Schroeder scored 12 points on four three-pointers!

Baron Medina scored nine points. He made two three-pointers and one free throw.

Lucas Johnson made three two-pointers and totaled six points.

Cam Waldo totaled three-pointers by making a three.

Zach Ptacnik and Marcus May each scored two points.

For Ogallala, Tanner DeCastro scored 17 points. He made three three-pointers and recorded two dunks!

Edan Cain scored 15 points. He made three free throws.

Rylan Gilmore scored 14 points. He made one dunk and four free throws!

Blake Robb made three two-pointers and scored six points.

Rhys Gilmore made three free throws!

Cy Lowery totaled three points which also included a free throw.

Anthony Perrin made a three-pointer and totaled three points.

Holdrege (6-14) on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026, at 12:17 p.m. Mountain Time is currently ranked 46th in Class C1 according to nsaahome.org with 38.9000 wild card points.

Holdrege travels to Hershey for their final game of the regular season on Friday, February 20th, 2026.

Ogallala was tied at 51 with Ashland-Greenwood near the end of the game and hung on to defeat the Ashland-Greenwood Bluejays on Saturday, February 14th, 2026, in Grand Island, Nebraska, 56 to 52 and to improve to twenty wins and zero losses in the regular season.

Ashland-Greenwood's Cal Kissinger scored 17 points, Derek Tonjes totaled 15 points, while Cooper Westerhold had at least 14 points.

Kissinger made three three-pointers and two free throws, Tonjes made at least five free throws and Westerhold made two free throws.

Three Ogallala players scored 10 or more points in that game.

Sawyer Smith scored 23 points, Tanner DeCastro totaled 14 points and Rylan Gilmore put 10 points on the scoreboard.

Smith made two threes and three free throws, DeCastro made one three-pointer and one free throw and Rylan Gilmore made two three-pointers and two free throws.

Ashland-Greenwood (20-1) on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026, at 12:17 p.m. Mountain Time is currently ranked in second place in Class C1 according to nsaahome.org with 46.9524 wild card points.

Cozad (21-2) is ranked in third place in Class C1 with 45.7391 wild card points while Auburn (20-1) is ranked in fourth place in Class C1 with 45.2381 wild card points according to nsaahome.org.

Ogallala (20-0) is currently ranked first in Class C1 with 48.1000 wild card points according to nsaahome.org.

The Indians according to Maxpreps.com are ranked 1st in the entire state of Nebraska (all classes) and they are also ranked 83rd nationally on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026, at 12:40 p.m. Mountain Time.

The Indians will play at Gering on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026, at Gering.

Then, Ogallala will play at Gothenburg on Friday, February 20th.

The High School Boys' Varsity basketball Subdistrict Tournament in Nebraska will be played statewide on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, February 23rd, 24th and 26th, 2026.

Ogallala will be hosting a Subdistrict Tournament unless something unforeseen happens.

Every team who wins their Subdistrict Tournament (and the wild card recipients/teams who don't win their Subdistrict Tournament) will each meet in one of eight District Final games on Saturday, February 28th (as one of the final sixteen teams in each Class), with a chance to be one of eight teams to advance to the State Tournament in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The State Tournament will be on March 11th through 14th, 2026, in Lincoln, Nebraska.

...

The Ogallala High School Boys' Junior Varsity basketball team hung on and defeated the Holdrege Dusters by a final score of 62 to 59 at the Ogallala Auditorium in Ogallala, Nebraska.

Marcus May scored 20 points for Holdrege. He made one three-pointer and one free throw.

Cy Lowery scored 20 points for Ogallala. He made one three, three free throws and one dunk.

Kypton Hollertz and Zach Ptacnik each scored two points for Holdrege to start the scoring in the game.

Cy Lowery then made a two for Ogallala.

Creighton Smith then hit a three for Holdrege while Ptacnik made a two.

Cy Lowery then made another two-pointer for the Indians and Holdrege led 9-4.

Jacoby Bauer then hit a three and Holdrege led 9-7 with 3:59 left in the first quarter.

Creighton Smith then made only the second of two free throws for Holdrege.

Cy Lowery then made a dunk for Ogallala and the Indians trailed 10-9.

Then, Jacoby Bauer made a three for the Indians and Ogallala led 12-10 with 2:58 remaining in the first quarter.

Rayc Meyer made a two for Holdrege and the game was tied at 12!

Cy Lowery then made only the second of two free throws for Ogallala and Ty Patin made a two-pointer for the Indians.

Marcus May then made a two for Holdrege.

Cy Lowery then made two free throws for Ogallala and the Indians led 17-14.

Marcus May then made another two-pointer for Holdrege.

Jacoby Bauer and Cy Lowery then each made a three for Ogallala and the Indians led 23-16 after one quarter.

To start the second quarter, Cy Lowery and Zach Musgrove made a two for Ogallala.

Then, Zach Ptacnik made a two for Holdrege.

Marcus May then hit a three and Holdrege trailed Ogallala 27-21.

Beckan Cain then only made the first of two free throws for Ogallala.

Cy Lowery then made another two for Ogallala while Zach Musgrove hit a three and Ogallala led 33-21 with 3:48 left in the second quarter.

Anthony Perrin then scored two points for the Indians.

Zach Ptacnik then made a three for Holdrege.

Ogallala then scored the final eight points of the second quarter as Beckan Cain made only the second of two free throws.

Cy Lowery then made back-to-back two-pointers while Jacoby Bauer hit a three and Ogallala led at halftime 43-24.

In the first half, Zach Ptacnik scored nine points while Marcus May scored seven points for Holdrege.

For Ogallala, Cy Lowery scored 20 points in the first half while Jacoby Bauer totaled 12 points and Zach Musgrove had five points.

Joel Yochum made a two-pointer for Holdrege.

Zach Ptacnik then made two free throws for the Dusters.

Rayc Meyer then made a two for Holdrege and Ogallala led 43-30.

Zach Musgrove then hit a three for Ogallala while Marcus May made a two for Holdrege and Ogallala led 46-32 with 3:14 remaining in the third quarter.

Beckan Cain made a two for Ogallala while Jackson Deaver made back-to-back two-pointers for Holdrege.

Ty Patin then made a two for Ogallala while Marcus May made a two for Holdrege and Ogallala led after three quarters 50-38.

To start the fourth quarter, Jacoby Bauer then made a three for Ogallala.

Ben Moreno then made a three for Holdrege while Jeff Sertich made a two.

Jacoby Bauer then made a two for Ogallala while Marcus May made a two for Holdrege.

May then made a three-point play by making a two and a free throw for Holdrege while Jeff Sertich made a two and Ogallala led 55-50 with 3:45 left in the fourth quarter.

Marcus May then made another two for Holdrege while Ty Patin scored a two for Ogallala.

Jackson Deaver then made a two for Holdrege.

Zach Musgrove then hit a three for Ogallala and they led 60-54.

Kypton Hollertz then hit a three and Holdrege trailed 60-57 with 1:50 left to go in the fourth quarter.

Marcus May then made a two for the Dusters with 43.7 seconds left.

Ogallala then had to call timeout three times to get the ball across half court and to avoid being put in a bad situation with 43.7 seconds left, 38.7 seconds left and 26.0 seconds left.

One of the Ogallala basketball players then missed two free throws with 9.5 seconds left.

Zach Musgrove then made two free throws for Ogallala with 5.0 seconds left.

Holdrege then had one last chance but really didn't get a good shot off from what I remember right now and Ogallala won by a final score of 62-59.

For Holdrege, Zach Ptacnik scored 11 points. He made one three-pointer and two free throws.

Jackson Deaver scored six points. He made three two-point baskets.

Kypton Hollertz totaled five points. He made one three-pointer.

Creighton Smith scored four points. He made a three-pointer and a free throw.

Jeff Sertich and Rayc Meyer each made two two-pointers and scored four points.

Ben Moreno made a three and totaled three points.

Joel Yochum scored two points.

For Ogallala, Jacoby Bauer scored 17 points. He made five three-pointers!

Zach Musgrove scored 13 points. He made three three-point baskets and two free throw.

Ty Patin scored six points. He made three two-pointers.

Beckan Cain scored four points. He made two free throws.

Anthony Perrin made a two-point basket.

Holdrege won a few games but lost a lot of games at the Junior Varsity Boys' level this season, so I'm sure they are hoping to be a lot better next season and in future seasons.

Ogallala improved to 10-3 in the regular season at the High School Boys' Junior Varsity basketball level.