The opening round of the Mid Nebraska Activities Conference boys basketball tournament took place Monday night. In Sargent, top seed and defending tournament champion Twin Loup advanced to the semifinals with a 72-17 win over Sandhills Valley. Twin Loup knocked down eight 3’s in the opening quarter and finished with eleven for the game. Yahya Harris led all scorers with a game high 28 points and Carter Hall also finished in double figures for the Wolves with 13. Twin Loup will face Anselmo-Merna in the semifinals. The #4 seed Coyotes faced Arthur County. AM opened on a 17-0 run on their way to a 64-23 victory. Three players finished in double figures for Anselmo-Merna led by Dane Duryea who had a game high 13 points. Caenyn Priest and Brayden Wilson each had 12 points.
In Dunning, #3 seed Mullen overcame a 28-23 deficit and came back to defeat South Loup 59-52 to advance to the semifinal round. The Broncos had four players finish in double figures led by Jacob Walker who had a team high 16. Ben Werner finished with 14. Alex Werner and Nicholas Gonzalez each had 10. South Loup was led by Dylan Pandorf who scored a game high 22 points. Conner Paulsen and Crew Witthuhn also finished in double figures for the Bobcats finishing with 11 and 13 points respectively. Mullen will face Sandhills/Thedford in the semifinals. The #2 seed outscored Brady 23-8 in the third quarter to pull away for a 76-53 win. Ten players scored for S/T led by Maurice Robinson who finished with a game high 18 points and Brandon Goshorn finished with 17 to lead the Knights. Brady was led by Cinch Sanger who scored a team high 16 points.
The MNAC boys semifinals will be played Thursday afternoon at Broken Bow high school. Mullen will face Sandhills/Thedford in the first semifinal at 3 p.m. followed by Anselmo-Merna vs Twin Loup at 4:30. The games will be broadcast on KBBN 95.3 FM with a live video stream of the games available on the Sandhills Express Facebook Page and Sandhills Express You Tube Channel.
