Ogallala Boys' defeat Syracuse in High School Varsity Basketball on Thursday, March 12th, 2026, in State Quarterfinals; To play Douglas County West in State Semifinals on Friday, March 13th, 2026
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By: Evan Troxel
The #1 seeded Ogallala Indians High School Varsity Basketball team defeated the #8 seeded Syracuse Rockets in the Class C1 State Tournament Quarterfinals in Nebraska by a final score of 77 to 43 on Thursday, March 12th, 2026, at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Syracuse finishes their season winning 18 games and losing just nine games all season!
Will Janssen scored 12 points for Syracuse. He made two three-pointers and two free throws.
Sawyer Smith scored 23 points for Ogallala. He made three free throws.
To start the game, Syracuse actually made two technical foul free throws by Will Janssen as Ogallala actually made a dunk during warm-ups and hung on the rim as one of those things or both of those things are not allowed during the 20-minute warm-up period right before the National Anthem, the lineups being announced and the game itself!
Tanner DeCastro then made a three for Ogallala.
Sawyer Smith then made a two-pointer for the Indians and missed the free throw immediately afterwards.
Will Janssen then hit a three and the game was tied at five apiece with 5:42 to go in the opening quarter.
Tanner DeCastro made a two-pointer for the Indians.
Then, Will Janssen made the second and third free throws of three free throws for Syracuse and the game was tied up again at seven apiece.
Sawyer Smith then made a two-pointer and Lincoln Gillen hit a three for Ogallala and the Indians led with 2:51 remaining in the first quarter.
Rylan Gilmore then made a two-pointer and then Sawyer Smith made a couple of two-point baskets and Ogallala led 18 to 7.
Brennan Schroeder then only made the second of two free throws for the Rockets.
Rylan Gilmore then hit a three-pointer and Ogallala led 21 to 8.
Sawyer Smith then made two free throws for Ogallala.
Maxwell Parde then made a two-pointer for the Rockets and after one quarter Ogallala led 23 to 10 over Syracuse.
At some point in the second quarter, Tanner DeCastro and Sawyer Smith each had two-point makes for Ogallala.
Then, Rylan Gilmore hit a three and Ogallala led 30 to 10!
Rylan Gilmore then had a two-point make for the Indians and Ogallala led 32 to 10 with 5:11 remaining in the second quarter.
Lincoln Gillen then made a two-pointer for the Indians.
Nolan Gartner then made a two-pointer for Syracuse to end the scoring string for Ogallala.
Maxwell Parde then made only the second of two free throws for the Rockets and Ogallala led 34 to 13 with 3:56 left in the second quarter.
Parde then made a two-pointer for the Rockets.
Rylan Gilmore then hit a three and Ogallala led 37 to 15 with 2:16 to go in the second period.
Rylan Gilmore then scored another two-pointer for the Indians and after two quarters at halftime Ogallala led 39 to 15.
The top scorers in the first half for Syracuse was Will Janssen with seven points.
The top scorers in the first half for Ogallala were Rylan Gilmore with 15 points, Sawyer Smith with 12 points, Tanner DeCastro with seven points and Lincoln Gillen with five points.
To start the third quarter, Maxwell Parde made two free throws for Syracuse.
Then, Sawyer Smith made a two-pointer for Ogallala.
Syracuse then got a two-pointer bucket and they trailed 41 to 19 with 6:00 remaining in the third quarter.
Will Janssen then hit a three for the Rockets and Ogallala led 41 to 22.
Sawyer Smith and Tanner DeCastro each then made two-pointers for the Indians.
Then, Tanner DeCastro made a dunk for Ogallala!
Sawyer Smith then made a shot with the left-hand and a free throw and the Indians led 50 to 22 with 2:32 left in the third quarter.
Edan Cain then finally got on the scoreboard and hit a three for Ogallala.
Brennan Schroeder then made a three-pointer and a free throw for Syracuse to end the Ogallala scoring run of 12 straight points and there was 1:35 left in the third quarter.
Tanner DeCastro then made another two-point dunk for Ogallala.
Brennan Schroeder only made the second of two free throws for the Rockets.
Tanner DeCastro then got another dunk for the Indians, his third of the game!
The Rockets then got another three and after three quarters Ogallala led 57 to 30!
Rylan Gilmore and Sawyer Smith each made a two-pointer for Ogallala to start the fourth quarter.
Then, Mason Lintz made two free throws for Syracuse.
Sawyer Smith then got another two for Ogallala.
Will Janssen then made a two-pointer for the Rockets and Ogallala led 63 to 34 with 5:37 left in the fourth quarter.
Nolan Gartner then only made the second of two free throws for Syracuse.
Lincoln Gillen then hit a three-pointer for Ogallala, he also made a two-pointer and he also made a free throw for the Indians.
The Indians' Rylan Gilmore then picked up his fourth foul around this part of the fourth quarter.
After an Edan Cain two-pointer for Ogallala, the Indians led 71 to 35 with 4:07 remaining in the fourth period.
Ogallala's Cy Lowery then got called for defensive goaltending, so Syracuse was awarded two points.
Ogallala then made a two-pointer.
Brennan Schroeder then made a two-pointer for the Rockets.
Tanner DeCastro then only made the first of two free throws for Ogallala and they led 74 to 39.
Jake Janssen then made a two-pointer for Syracuse.
Blake Robb then hit a three for Ogallala, one of his few baskets made all season long!
Syracuse then made another two-pointer and Ogallala won by a final score of 77 to 43!
The top scorers in the second half for the Syracuse Rockets were Brennan Schroeder with seven points and Will Janssen and Maxwell Parde each with five points.
For Ogallala, the top scorers for the Indians in the second half were Sawyer Smith with 11 points, Tanner DeCastro with nine points, Lincoln Gillen with six points and Edan Cain scored five points.
Ogallala has now scored 2,021 points for the entire season and has given up just 1,166 points for the entire season.
For Syracuse, Brennan Schroeder scored eight points. He made one three-pointer and three free throws.
Maxwell Parde scored seven points. He made three free throws.
Jake Janssen scored four points. He made two two-pointers.
Nolan Gartner scored two points.
Mason Lintz also scored two points. He made two free throws.
For Ogallala, Rylan Gilmore scored 17 points. He made three three-point baskets.
Tanner DeCastro totaled 16 points. He made one three-pointer, six two-pointers and one free throw! He made at least three dunks!
Lincoln Gillen scored 11 points. He made two three-pointers and one free throw.
Edan Cain scored five points. He made one three-pointer.
Blake Robb scored three points. He made one three-pointer!
Ogallala (26-0) will play #4 seeded Douglas County West (22-6) tomorrow on Thursday, March 13th, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. Central Time/8:00 a.m. Mountain Time at the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Ogallala has won 26 games this season and is the lone remaining undefeated team in Nebraska among all classes in Boys' High School Varsity Basketball.
Douglas County West defeated Grand Island Central Catholic immediately after the Syracuse-Ogallala game at the Bob Devaney Sports Center by a final score of 49 to 41.
On the other side of the Class C1 Bracket...
You can read about my Class C1 preview story here and then just add one more win and that's the current won-lost record for each team who won today on Thursday, March 12th, 2026.
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