The Kimball boys are three-peat champions after winning this year’s Western Trails Conference Tournament Championship and for Kimball High Coach Bruce Tjosvold, winning the conference tourney is all he knows. In his third season as head of the Kimball High Boy’s program, Coach Tjosvold has directed his teams to championships each and every year!

The Longhorns were the No. 1 seed and drew a first round bye.

Gordon/Rush

In the semi finals they won out over Gordon-Rushville 70-43. Gordon-Rushville had advanced to the semi finals with a 54-53 squeaker win over Bridgeport. In the championship, Kimball handed Bayard their second loss of the season (both losses to Kimball), with a final score of 54-37.

Brad Weisbrook got Kimball off to a good start in their win over Gordon/Rushville scoring the first 5 points for the Horns and scored 7 first period points as Kimball led 16-10 at the quarter break. By half time, Kimball led 39-23 with the Ferguson brothers both scoring 11 points by the intermission break. Colton Daum had his patented long shot working and he nailed 3 treys in the third period to give Kimball a 62-34 lead heading into the final period. The reserves took over and played well to put the game away with Brady Baker scoring 6 points in the final quarter along with his 4 rebounds.

Coach Tjosvold said, “We didn’t come out real intense but we picked up on defense in the second quarter and got going”. Tjosvold didn’t single out anyone but said he felt everyone played well as a team.

Colton Daum led Kimball scoring with 18 going 7 for 12 from the field including 4 of 6 on three point attempts. Kendall Ferguson scored 17 points on 8 for 11 shooting from the field and 1 for 1 at the foul line. He got his double-double with 12 rebounds, had 3 steals, 3 assists, and 2 blocked shots. Charles Ferguson tallied 15 points on 7 of 15 shooting with 1 trey, had 8 rebounds, 8 assists, and 5 steals and concentrated on feeding the ball to any team mate who worked to yet open. Brad Weisbrook had his 7 points, Brady Baker 6, Jake Daum 3, Dusty Huddleston 2, and Tyler Weisbrook 2.

In team stats, Kimball shot 24 for 47 on two point fielders, 6 for 13 from three point range, 4 of 8 at the foul line, had 13 offensive and 20 defensive rebounds, 16 steals, 21 assists and 2 blocks.

They were whistled for 17 fouls and had only 13 turnovers.

Gordon/Rushville had 15 fouls, were 7 for 15 at the line, 16 of 48 from the field including 4 for 13 on three pointers. Top scorers for the Mustangs were Donald Hlava with 13 and Brandon Hotz with 12.

Kimball        16  23  23  8--70Gordon/Rush 10  13  11  9--43

BAYARD

Bayard was the  No.2 seed in the tournament and brought the best overall record of 17-1 into the championship game with their only blemish a 72-66 loss to Kimball back in mid-December. The Tigers advanced to the championship with a first round 69-36 win over Morrill and a semi final win over Mitchell by a score of 57-39. The stage was set for another shoot out between the top two clubs and the fans were treated to an exciting and hard played contest.

Coach Tjosvold went to his Diamond and One defense with defensive specialist Colton Daum assigned to hound Bayard’s long ball ace, Spencer Jobman. In the first meeting between the two teams Jobman had burned Kimball with 5 treys and 21 points. This time around with Daum haunting his every move, he scored 5 points on 1 field goal and 3 free throws.

Bayard Coach Neal Baker said, “We were not prepared for what Kimball threw at us.

"I  was surprised they ran it on us, but I was really surprised that it worked as well as it did.”

Coach Tjosvold had nothing but praise for the job his senior guard did in holding Jobman to 5 points, and also praised the balance of the team for the job they did in running the defense.

Kimball took an early 14-9 lead at the quarter break and then really broke things open in the second period out scoring Bayard 16-6 to take a 30~5 half time lead. They were taking care of the ball with only 3 first half turnovers and Kendall Ferguson already had 15 points by half time, thanks in large part to the assists from brother Chuck who would drive the lane and dish off. Unfortunately, Kendall Ferguson was experiencing some foul problems and when he picked up his fourth foul mid-way through the third quarter, he had to spend some time on the bench. Bayard was playing hard and they outscored Kimball 14-13 in the third period to trail 43-29 heading into the final frame. The final quarter saw Kimball outscore Bayard 11-8 to secure the win by a margin of 17 points, a huge victory over the No. 6 ranked Tigers in the State Class C-2 rankings by the Omaha World Herald. The win also lifted Kimball to 14-3 on the season with all three losses to highly touted Class B programs.

Kendall Ferguson led Kimball scoring with 17 points including nailing his only three point attempt and going 4 for 6 at the line.

The big sophomore also had 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block despite spending considerable time on the bench in foul trouble. A fantastic all around game for Charles Ferguson who ended up with 14 points on 7 for 12 shooting. He matched his scoring with 14 rebounds, had 5 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks. Jake Daum battled hard all night and scored 9 points, Colton Daum had 7 including a trey, and Brad Weisbrook had 7. Coach Tjosvold praised Charles Ferguson for his unselfish play and couldn’t say enough about the defensive play of Colton Daum. He was quick to point out however that once again it was a complete team effort.

“I want to give credit to every player. This bunch of kids listen so well and carry out our game plan so well,” said Tjosvold.

Along with five starters scoring, Tjosvold got solid play off the bench. When Kendall Ferguson had to get some Pine Time, Brady Baker came in to grab 4 big rebounds. Tyler Weisbrook and Dusty Huddleston provided some key minutes and Tjosvold was able to go deep into his bench at the tail end to give everyone a taste of championship play.

The Horns shot the ball well going 21 for 45 from the field for close to 50 percent including 2 for 6 on three point shots, were 10 of 18 at the foul line, had 35 rebounds with 31 defensive, 9 steals, 13 assists, and 3 blocks. They had 18 fouls and 18 turnovers.

Bayard was 11 for 63 from the field going 4 for 17 on three pointers, 11 of 21 at the line, had 15 fouls, and 26 rebounds. Kevin Foland was the only Tiger in double figure scoring with 10. Bryant Miller, who fouled out, had 7, Riley Pruitt 6, Spencer Jobman 5, Trevor Parriott 4, Mikah Schmal12, Brandon Stuart 2, and Colton Nelson 1.

Kimball 14  16  13  11--54Bayard   9   6  14   8--37