COUNCIL BLUFFS — Council Bluffs Lewis Central coach Dan Miller looked physically drained when he emerged from the locker room Saturday at the Mid-America Center.
It was a week that featured one high moment and two agonizing near misses.
The Titans were down three expected contributors: Max Duggan, who is out for the season with a broken leg, and Tyler Shipman and Gavin Coyle, who violated the school’s good-conduct policy.
It started with a 67-63 overtime loss to Nebraska Class B No. 2 Gretna. Then came a 59-54 win Friday over an Atlantic squad that had notched four straight quality wins.
On Saturday, the Titans had a chance to score another big win. But L.C. was held scoreless in the final 4:15 of a 44-43 loss to Nebraska Class B No. 4 Bennington in the MAC Shootout at the Mid-America Center.
Only two total points were scored in the final four minutes: single free throws by Cooper Prososki and Thomas Spoehr that nudged Bennington into the winner’s circle.
In between were plenty of missed opportunities. With 6.7 seconds left, L.C. had the ball under its basket. It ended with a deep, desperation 3 by Seth Wineland that hit the rim short.
Prososki led the Badgers with 18, including 16 in the first half.
Bennington (10-2)…12 15 10 7—44
CB Lewis Central (5-7)…15 6 16 6—43
B: Karson Gansebom 6, Cooper Prososki 18, Cole Schumacher 1, Thomas Spoehr 5, Grady Corrigan 6, Nick Bohn 2, Reece Tomjack 6.
LC: Josh Simmons 8, Cole Jensen 5, Nolan McKenzie 10, Dane Norville 8, Seth Wineland 6, Easton Dermody 3, Logan Jones 3.
Bellevue West 47, CB Abraham Lincoln 41
Coming off a double-overtime win over Sioux City Heelan on Friday, Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln coach Jason Isaacson wondered how much fight his team could summon.
The Lynx couldn’t generate enough offense Saturday.
“If you’re going to have a back-to-back, Bellevue West probably isn’t the best one,” Isaacson said. “They transition. They push the tempo. I thought the second half, though, our kids were tired and they just fought. I was proud of them.”
Cedric Johnson finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and four steals for the Thunderbirds, who were coming off a 73-49 win over Bellevue East on Friday. They forced 19 A.L. turnovers and limited the Lynx to 33.3-percent (16 of 48) field-goal shooting.
Bellevue West (9-4)…12 10 10 15—47
CB AL (5-6)…9 7 10 15—41
BW: Nico Felici 8, Chucky Hepburn 7, Cedric Johnson 16, John Shanklin 6, Deng Jal 10.
AL: Jadin Johnson 4, Preston Fant 10, Troy Houghton 17, Hunter Hendrix 6, Tyler Reiss 3, Kaden Baxter 1.
Wahoo Neumann 50, Atlantic 46
Down by 15 in the third quarter, Atlantic’s comeback fell short.
“They played harder than us for that third quarter, a higher level of intensity and urgency on their part,” Atlantic coach Alan Jenkins said. “That’s a winning program, a winning mentality and I thought we lost our focus and our edge.”
The Trojans rekindled that edge in the fourth quarter, going on a 19-5 run and cutting the lead to 46-45 with 1:14 remaining after an Austin Alexander 3-pointer.
But the shots stopped falling for the Trojans in the final minute and a Scott Leonard free throw was the only point they scored the rest of the way.
Junior Trey Ahrens led Wahoo Neumann with 15 and senior Zach Meduna added 13.
Wahoo Neumann (7-6)…10 12 19 9—50
Atlantic (7-5)…12 10 8 16—46
WN: Trey Ahrens 15, Eli Vedral 2, Zach Meduna 13, Taylen Pospisil 4, Kobey Simons 12, Isaac Woita 2, Trey Miller 2.
A: Austin Alexander 9, Chase Mullenix 6, Grant Podhajsky 10, Scott Leonard 21.
Winnebago 63, Carroll 60
One day after falling to Carlisle on a buzzer-beating half-court shot, Carroll went on a 20-6 fourth-quarter run. But it couldn’t get a shot up after getting the ball back down three with 4.0 seconds left.
The Indians were 4 of 5 from the foul line in the final minute. Senior point guard D’Von LaPointe scored six points in the fourth and finished with 17 for Winnebago, while TJ Frenchman led the way with 18.
Winnebago (12-1)…19 19 12 13—63
Carroll (6-4)…12 19 9 20—60
W: Maurice Scott 7, D’Von LaPointe 17, TJ Frenchman 18, Makoonce Littlevoice 4, Manape Cleveland 11 Lance Denney 6.
C: Cooper Ross 14, Jang Jioklow 8, Justin Mohr 8, Buomkuoth Lol 8, Colby Vincent 8, Tyler Tunning 14.
Fremont-Mills 54, Louisville 36
Leading 25-17 at the half, Fremont-Mills sophomore Elias Owen sank a trio of 3-pointers in the third quarter to help the Knights gain some breathing room.
FM took a 45-27 lead into the fourth and didn’t allow the Lions to get closer than 17 the rest of the way.
Louisville (7-6)…9 8 10 9—36
Fremont-Mills (7-4)…15 10 20 9—54
L: Hunter Klein 2, Jaden Maxey 4, Brady Geise 10, Alec Terry 6, Quinn Wolcott 2, Chase Cosgrove 12.
FM: Jaeger Powers 14, Mason Vanatta 10, Nate Laughlin 5, Austin Gartner 8, Christian Melgoza 2, Elias Owen 9, Cooper Langelt 6.
Sioux City West 77, Omaha Benson 56
Sioux City West got 16 points from 6-foot-5 junior Adien Belt and 15 from 6-5 senior Kory Woodruff.
Omaha Benson (0-11) 12 6 25 13—56
SC West (6-4) 17 19 18 23—77
B: Denim Johnson 8, Montrayl Simpson 2, Terry Black 5, Jalen Parmar Watson 14, Brian Baker 16, Rhaland Mays 5, Dylan Holston 4, Anthony Ignowski 2.
W: Kory Woodruff 15, Omar Maldonado 9, Cliff McCray 12, Robert Mosey 4, Adien Belt 16, Conner Beyer 3, Kyrel Hanks 3, Kaleb Hegna 5, Micah McWell 4, Desean Foy 5, Christian Cortez 1.
CB Lewis Central girls 49, Bellevue West 43
McKenna Paulsen relishes her role as one of the area’s top on-ball defenders.
The Council Bluffs Lewis Central sophomore said her job is “to make life difficult for them, basically. If it’s a dead ball, I get up in their face. I like it.’’
With Paulsen and running mate Natalie Rigatuso leading the way with their harassing perimeter defense, the Class 4-A No. 2 Titans held Nebraska Class A No. 9 Bellevue West to one point in the final five minutes.
Bellevue West (7-6)…17 10 10 6—43
CB Lewis Central (12-0)…17 14 5 13—49
BW: Akili Felici 20, Asja Woodard 7, Emma Mullendore 4, Meleah Turner 3, Laura Jurek 6, Morgan Braun 3.
LC: Alissa Pomrenke 5, McKenna Paulsen 3, Maegan Holt 24, Natalie Rigatuso 2, Megan Witte 15.
CB Abraham Lincoln 55, Omaha Benson 54
Claire Jones’ reaction is etched in Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln coach Chad Schaa’s memory.
“I’ll never lose that in my head the rest of my life,’’ he said.
With the Lynx trailing by one, Miranda Hennings’ 15-foot runner from the right elbow bounced off the rim with about three seconds left. Jones hustled to retrieve it along the baseline to the left of the basket. She quickly flipped up a shot and it swished at the buzzer to give A.L. a thrilling victory over Omaha Benson.
Omaha Benson (7-4)…14 11 9 20—54
CB Abraham Lincoln (7-5)…14 3 12 26—55
B: Kiana Estima 6, Delani Harris 3, Quinesha Lockett 26, Jada Hankins 4, A’tiana Jones 15.
AL: Hope Riche 1, Cailey Schaa 15, Claire Jones 11, Miranda Hennings 15, Lucy Turner 11, Caitlin Spurgin 2.
Bennington 42, AHSTW 31
Trailing 26-25 after the third quarter, Bennington’s Bailey Jones scored 10 of her 15 points in the fourth to spearhead a 17-5 run for the Badgers.
A Claire Denning 3-pointer was the only made field goal for the Lady Vikes in the final quarter, while Jones made a pair of 3s and Bennington was 7-of-11 from the line in the final eight minutes.
Grace Tetschner scored 10 for the Badgers, while Ellie Rupprecht had eight.
Claire Denning paced AHSTW with nine and Morgan Eckmann scored eight.
Bennington (7-7)…7 13 5 17—42
AHSTW (4-8)…6 11 9 5—31
B: Whitney Wullenwaber 5, Madelyn Turner 4, Grace Tetschner 10, Bailey Jones 15, Ellie Rupprecht 8.
AHSTW: Josie Denning 2, Katie Anzalone 1, Hayli Paulsen 1, Claire Denning 9, Kinsey Scheffler 7, Morgan Eckmann 8, Kate Wise 3.
