The last time a Kimball High boy’s basketball team took the court in a Nebraska State Basketball Tournament role was 1999, but the Longhorns will go at it again tonight (Thursday) at Pershing Auditorium taking their No. 2 seed up against No. 7 seed Milford. The Longhorns go into tournament play with a 22-2 record and have strung together 21 straight victories. Milford will bring a record of 21-3 into the first round pairing. Kimball fans travel well and a large crowd of fans are expected to follow their Horns to Lincoln, but if you simply can not make the trip for whatever reason, be sure and catch the action on KSID Radio out of Sidney, or KNEB out of Scottsbluff. Game time tonight is 6 p.m. Kimball time.

Coach Bruce Tjosvold and the Milford coach have exchanged game film from their last two games to help them prepare for one another. Coach Tjosvold said Milford is a lot like his own team and doesn’t have extreme height. Any team that makes it to the big show is a quality team for certain.

A loss in first round play eliminates that team, while a win would put the Horns up against the winner of the Norfolk Catholic and Hastings St. Cecilia first round game, and that semi final contest will be played at 2:45 p.m. on Friday afternoon at the Devaney Sports Center.

The Class C-l State championship game is set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday evening at Devaney, while the semi final losers will meet in a consolation game on Saturday.

A first round win is essential if a school wants to get in three games and a chance for honors.

Norfolk Catholic is 23-2, Hastings St. Cecilia 19-6.

In the other bracket, Grand Island Central Catholic is the No. 1 seed with a record of 24-1 playing No. 8 seed Wayne at 19-7.

Bishop Neumann is the No. 4 seed at 20-5 and will face No. 5 seed Minden 21-2.

In looking at the season stats Kimball will take into the state tournament, they have scored 1504 points averaging 62.7 per game while allowing 1072 points and 44.7.

They have out rebounded their opponents 806 to 592 averaging 33.6 a game.

The Horns have a seasoned starting lineup of five seniors led by 6-foot-5-inch Kendall Ferguson who has scored 455 points averaging 19 per game and has already established new school career records in points scored, rebounds, and steals. He leads the team in rebounds with 263 averaging 11, has 40 blocks, 69 steals, and 104 assists.

Brady Land, 6-foot-1-inch guard, has scored 290 points averaging 12.1 points per game and leads the team in three point field goals with 38.

Jake Daum, 6-foot-2-inch forward, is a work horse inside and has 230 points scored averaging 9.6 points, and has 165 rebounds averaging 6.9 a game. Woodrow Parsons, 6-feet-even can play any position and has 143 points scored averaging 6.2.

He has great leaping ability and has 99 rebounds averaging 4.3.

Taylor Brown, 6-foot-3-inches is another good rebounder who has scored 134 points and averages 5.8 points along with 86 rebounds and 3.7 per game.

Jeff Greenwood, a 5-foot-11-inch junior, is the sixth man and has 123 points averaging 5.1 per game. He is Mr. Hustle and often times will check in and give the Horns the spark they need. Along with these six, coach Tjosvold can get quality minutes from several other young men who stand ready to show their talents. It will be interesting to see if the Horns from the far west can hang with the boys from the far east.