Men's Basketball Routs Ottawa in Season Opener
Seward, NE – The Hastings College men’s basketball team got the Todd Raridon era off to a great start as the Broncos opened the season with an 87-51 victory over Ottawa on Friday afternoon at the Cattle Classic hosted by Concordia.
| Final | 1 | 2 | T |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
20 | 31 | 51 |
|
|
44 | 43 | 87 |
Team Stats
Ottawa
| Game Statistics | Ottawa | Hastings |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | (19-60) | (33-63) |
| Field Goal % | 31.7% | 52.4% |
| Rebounds | 28 | 45 |
| Assists | 9 | 17 |
| Turnovers | 13 | 13 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 17 | 25 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 10 | 11 |
| Pts in the Paint | 22 | 38 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 4 | 10 |
| Bench Pts | 32 | 32 |
Seward, NE – The Hastings College men's basketball team got the Todd Raridon era off to a great start as the Broncos opened the season with an 87-51 victory over Ottawa on Friday afternoon at the Cattle Classic hosted by Concordia.
The Broncos got off to a fast start as true freshman Reggie Thomas got things started as he drained his first collegiate three point attempt of his career. Then Dawson Zenger drilled one of his own as HC jumped out to an early 6-0 lead. Two Thomas free throws made it 8-0 before the Braves finally got on the board with a Cody Jackson layup.
Once it got to a 12-7 ball game with 15:43 to play in the first half, the teams both went cold for the next two minutes until Anthony Thompson buried a three to get the Broncos going again.
Now leading 16-13, Thomas made his way to the basket for the layup and then Mathias Nchekwube hammered home a dunk to make it 20-13 midway through the first half. The Broncos moved the lead to double digits on back-to-back buckets from Tyrique McMurrin. After the Braves picked up a bucket from Fredrickson, Zenger buried another three to make it 27-15 with 8:24 to go in the first half.
The Broncos continued to increase the lead as Danilo Matovic got in on the act with a layup and the Thomas drained another three as Hastings now led 32-17 with 6:22 to play in the first half. The lead then increased to 20 points following a jumper from Matovic and then an and one from Phis Cisrow made it 37-17 and the route was on. Once the buzzer sounded, Hastings held a 24 point lead at 44-20 lead. The Broncos shot better than 51 percent from the floor in the first half while holding the Braves to 25 percent from the floor in the first half.
The lead climbed as high as 41 points before settling for the 87-51 victory.
Thomas led the way for Hastings with a career high 22 points on 7-for-13 shooting while going 5-for-8 from downtown and connected on 3-of-4 from the charity stripe. McMurrin added 13 points off the bench going 6-for-8 from the floor while pulling down seven boards.
Karson Gansebom finished with 12 points while Nchekwube added 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting.
The Broncos finished the game shooting 52.4 (33-for-63) percent from the floor and 46.2 percent (12-for-26) from behind the arc.
On the defensive side of things, Hastings held Ottawa to just 31.7 percent (19-for-60) from the floor. Hastings also won the rebounding battle 35-to-28 as both teams turned the ball over 13 times.
Hastings improves to 1-0 on the year and will be back in action Saturday Nov. 5 finishing up the Cattle Classic against Tabor with tip off set for 1:00 pm inside Friedrich Arena in Seward, NE.
