3A Game Feature – Sabetha Gets By Nemaha Central

<p>After going just 3-18 last year, Sabetha improved to 17-4 by knocking off the #2 seed Nemaha Central in overtime at the Silver Lake 3A sub-state site.</p> <p>The Blue Jays’ [player_tooltip player_id="1378396" first="Matthew" last="Garber"] got it going after a quiet first half, scoring 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.</p> <p>Despite the height of the Thunder, Sabetha held on after building a big first half lead to win 49-46. Here are some takeaways from the game:</p> <p>Garber came up big down the stretch:</p> <p>The Blue Jays got the ball in Garber’s hands at every opportunity, and the 6-foot-1 junior didn’t let them down. He handled the ball under extreme pressure and hit 8 of 10 free throws in the fourth period and overtime. Garber is best known for his dangerous stroke from deep, but on Thursday he did most of his damage on penetration and drawing fouls to get to the line.</p> <p>Rokey rocked the nets in the first half:</p> <p>6-foot-5 wing <strong>Davis Rokey</strong> hit four 3-pointers and got 16 of his 18 points in the first half. Rokey battled the Thunder length on defense and played through foul trouble in the second half. But it was his brilliant shooting from deep that fueled the Blue Jays in the first half.</p> <p>Youth triumphed on Thursday:</p> <p>Sabetha took some serious lumps last year, losing nearly every game. They gained a ton of experience with a couple of freshmen and some sophomores getting a lot of playing time. This season, sophomore starters [player_tooltip player_id="1378447" first="Marcus" last="Bauman"] and <strong>Christian McAfee</strong> didn’t score a lot Thursday, but they battled the Nemaha Central length and made good contributions.</p> <p>Becks fought valiantly in last game:</p> <p>The Beck twins came in averaging about 28 points combined, and they were part of a ton of height on the Thunder front line. [player_tooltip player_id="1076409" first="Kurtis" last="Beck"] fueled the Nemaha Central comeback and finished with 18 in his last game. They both attacked the bucket and showed versatility, handling the ball, scoring in the midrange and at the bucket, and intimidating in the lane.</p>