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LINCOLN — The Wynot Blue Devils took on the Elgin Public-Pope John Wolfpack at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in their first round matchup of the State Basketball Tournament Thursday night.
The Blue Devils led the entire game, but their lead was cut to two points on several occasions.
Wynot fought off several rallies by the Wolfpack to advance with the 60-53 win.
To earn the win the Blue Devils had to fight off a monster game by the Wolfpack’s Jared Erickson as he lit up the scoreboard to finish with 27 points and 13 rebounds.
Wynot got a balanced attack led by Kotner Koch with 15 points, Justin Heimes finished with 13 points and Killian Steinhaus chipped in with his 11 point effort.
In the first frame, Elgin got a trey by Karson Kallhorf and a bucket each by Jared Erickson and Max Henn. Wynot countered with seven points inside by Kotner Koch and a trey by Cooper Oligmueller to push out to a 14-7 lead.
The Wolfpack put together a rally in the second quarter thanks to six points from Karson Kallhorf and regular baskets from Jered Erickson and Kellan Hoefer. Wynot held them off with five more points from Kotner Koch and some work in the paint by Carter Hans, Justin Heimes and Killian Steinhaus as the Blue Devils took a 26-21 advantage into the locker room at the half.
In the third quarter, the Wolfpack continued to try to fight back as they put up 16 points in the period. Jerek Erickson led the rally for Elgin with his 10 points and Dylan Kolm had five points to help. Wynot would withstand the rally with six points from Andrew Haberman, five points by Devin Brummer and four points by Killian Steinhaus as they increased their lead to 46-37 going into the final frame.
Jerek Erickson tried to bring the Wolfpack single handedly as he poured in 10 more points in the final quarter.
Wynot held off the Elgin charge with a threepointer from Killan Steinhaus and a team total of nine free throws down the stretch to advance to the next round with the 60-53 win.
Wynot 14 11 19 18 - 60 Elgin EPJ 7 14 16 16 - 53 Wynot Elgin/PJ FG 21-44 19-54 3 PT 5-16 4-20 FT 13-25 11-15 Reb 32 34 TOs 12 14 SCORING
Wynot- Kotner Koch, 15; Justin Heimes, 13; Killian Steinhaus, 11; Andrew Haberman, 9; Devin Brummer, 7; Cooper Oligmueller, 3 Carter Hans, 2. Elgin Public- EPJ – Jarek Erickson, 27; Karson Kallhorf, 11; Dylan Kolm, 7; Max Henn, 4; Kellan Hoefer, 2; Matt Selting, 2.
