WAHOO, Neb. — Thursday’s flash freeze was outdoors. Friday’s was in the Wahoo gym.
Platteview’s two-man cold front — 6-3 Garrett Kirwan and 6-10 Nebraska recruit Brady Heiman — swooped in on Wahoo after the Class C-1 No. 1 Warriors had taken a 10-point lead in the third quarter.
Still ahead 42-34 with 4:51 left, Wahoo missed 22 of its final 23 shots — on its home rims. Got outscored 8-0 the remainder of the third quarter and, after scoring the first three points of the final period in a packed gym, gave up the final 15 points in a 57-42 win.
“Garrett gave us a tremendous amount of energy,” Platteview coach Tim Brotzki said. “He rebounded, he guarded and he sprinted the floor and I thought the second half he was the difference.”
In the fourth quarter, Kirwan had six of his eight points, five of his 11 rebounds and both of his steals.
“That’s his job. He’s a physical guy,” Heiman said. “His job is to go in and get every rebound, and he did his thing tonight.”
So did Heiman, the preeminent shot-blocker in the state. He was one swat from a triple-double. He had game highs of 16 points, 16 rebounds and nine stuffs.
“Teams do try to challenge Brady,” Brotzki said. “It’s tough for opposing teams to get in the lane and make buckets. We have a big luxury with Brady in the middle of our zone.”
Class B No. 3 Platteview (10-2) favors man over zone defense, but played a 2-3 in the second half along with some soft pressure. Wahoo (10-1) shot 56.5 percent in the first half, 19.4 percent in the second.
“Heiman was terrific in the fourth quarter and just dominated us with his defensive presence,” Wahoo coach Kevin Scheef said. “We got stuck. We couldn’t score the ball in the fourth quarter, missed some shots. We were there still with three minutes left but couldn’t make the plays when we needed to.”
Kirwan’s free throw with 4:21 left gave Platteview its first lead at 46-45. Heiman’s dunk off an assist by Wayne State recruit Nate Thayer made it 48-45.
Thayer’s free throw, a putback by Kirwan and another Thayer free throw made it a three-possession game with 1:26 left.
Heiman had five blocks in the final quarter.
Evan Kingston had 14 points for Platteview and Thayer 11, but they were a combined 8-of-39 shooting.
Platteview’s seniors never have lost to Wahoo in the regular season. But Wahoo has won the rematches in the Capitol Conference tournament finals the past three years.
Were a rematch to happen this year — and it would be stunning if it doesn’t — the game would be in Syracuse on Jan. 27.
“There’s a lot to learn,” Scheef said. “The biggest piece is just how much better we have to get bodies on people to check them out and let have only one shot. If you don’t check out Heiman, you’re not getting that rebound, and we didn’t do it consistently enough.”
Platteview (10-2)…………9 17 16 15—57
At Wahoo (10-1)………..13 18 11 3—45
P: Matt Kingston 1-3 2-2 5, Evan Kingston 4-18 4-5 14, Garrett Kirwan 3-5 2-4 8, Nate Thayer 4-21 2-4 11, Brady Heiman 6-10 4-7 16, Nathan Michaels 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 19-60 14-22 57.
W: Billy Hancock 1-10 0-0 3, Will Shanahan 4-12 1-2 9, Brendan Lacey 4-13 1-1 8, Cameron Quick 4-7 1-2 9, Dylan Egr 2-3 0-0 4, Blake Lacey 3-5 0-0 8, Winston Cook 1-2 0-1 2. Totals 19-52 3-6 45.
3-point goals: P 5-25 (M. Kingston 1-3, E. Kingston 2-10, Thayer 1-8, Heiman 0-1, Michaels 1-3), W 4-18 (Hancock 1-8, Br. Lacey 1-6, Bl. Lacey 2-4), Total fouls: P 10, W 19. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none. Turnovers: P 10, W 15. Rebounds: P 43 (Heiman 16), W 33 (Shanahan 11). Field-goal percentage: P .317, W .365. Free-throw percentage: P .636, W .500. A: 1,200.
Wahoo girls 51, Platteview 42
Holding Platteview and Creighton recruit Payton Brotzki scoreless until the second quarter, Wahoo scored the game’s first 18 points, including two 3s by Elle Glock and one by Taryn Scheef.
“You can’t give them that lead and expect to win,” Platteview coach Ron Coughlin said. “It looked like we just came off Christmas break, so I don’t know what was going on.
“At the end of the game I told them if we had come out the first half like we did the second half we’d be fine.”
Brotzki, a 5-11 senior, had 16 of her 21 points in the second half. Class B No. 4 Platteview (10-3) got as close as 45-40 on a 3 by Pittsburgh volleyball recruit Sabrina Starks with 1:44 left.
Wahoo coach Linda Walker said the Warriors did fine with their man defense on Brotzki, starting with Halle Reeves on her, even in the second half when she started to find gaps to squeeze through.
“Down the stretch, which is what I’m most proud about, is when they did squeeze in on us we didn’t panic or anything,” she said.
Reeves led Class C-1 No. 5 Wahoo (11-2) with 14 points. Glock had 12 and Scheef 11.
Platteview girls (10-3)………0 9 12 21—42
At Wahoo (11-2)……………13 9 12 17—51
P: Peyton Brotzki 21, Sabrina Starks 8, Halle Johnson 5, Emma Lewis 4, Anna Koehler 2, Madelyn Soupir 2.
W: Hallie Reeves 14, Elle Glock 12, Taryn Scheef 11, Kendal Brigham 7, Kyla Swanson 6, Brianna Brabec 1.
