Basketball fans see red at Cougar Palace

Andee Grentz from Mitchell and the Red team drives against Kimball's Annie McCloud of the Blue team(top)

Brideport's Dylan Busskohl of the Red team drives against Leyton's Garrett Westman of the Blue team(second from top)

Girls MVP Morgan Greene of Gering with Panhandle Prep's Ed Sughroue

Boys MVP Zach Clemens of Scottsbluff with Sughroue

It was a Red team sweep of the Panhandle Prep All-Star Basketball Games at Cougar Palace in Scottsbluff Saturday night.

The girls game went down to the wire. A missed shot at the buzzer by the Blue team allowed the Red to hold on for a 59-57 win. Meanwhile, in the boys game, the Red team pulled away midway through the second half en route to a 99-80 win over the Blue squad.

Gering girls ruled in the first game, while Scottsbluff boys took over the show in the nightcap.

Former Bulldog Morgan Greene led the Red with 14 points as they came back from a three-point halftime deficit, 27-24, to win the contest. Greene scored eight of her points in the second half and was named the games MVP.

It is a rare family double for the Greene's. Brother Nate won the MVP honor for the 2007 boys game.

The Blue team led much of the contest behind the 16-point effort of Bridgeport's Ashley Stevens and 12- points from Gering's Morgan Broussard. However a three-point field goal by Bridgeport's Brittany Hutson with 5:29 to go in the game tied the contest at 49-49, and a free throw by Sidney's Leah Uhlir gave the Red team the lead at 50-49.

Greene was joined in double figures by her high school teammate Bryana Larson, who scored 10, and by Garden County's Tori Vineyard who had 12.

The four Gering players that played, including Kerissa Mitchell for the Blue team, combined 41 points in the contest, 35-percent of the total scoring.

It was an even higher percentage for the Scottsbluff boys that played in the second contest. Zach Clemens led the winning team with 22-points and was named the games MVP.

Former Bearcat Rich Williams had a game high 26 points in a losing cause for the Blue team. Isaiah Castellaw added 20 for the Blue. The combined 68 points for the WNCC Cougar recruits accounted for 38-percent of the total scoring.

The Blue jumped out to a 6-0 lead, but the Red was able to bounce back and race to a 41-32 halftime lead. The Blue had another fast start in the second half, scoring the first nine points and tying the contest at 41-41.

The Red responded with a nine point run of their own and never trailed the rest of the way.

Clemens had plenty of help with four other Red players scoring in double figures. Kalen Coats of Gordon-Rushville added 19, Mitchell's Alberto Alvizar scored 14, Wade Reeves of Chadron contributed 13, and
Zach Smith of Gering scored all 11 of his points in the second half.

Besides the big two from Scottsbluff, Grant Freeze of Alliance had a double figure game for the Blue with 11 points.

Western Plains Foot Center sponsored the three-point shooting and slam dunk competition for the players Saturday night.

Stevens won the girls competition, while Garrett Folchert of Ogallala took top honors for the boys. Clemens out dueled Castellaw to win the boys slam dunk contest.

Panhandle Prep also awarded a $250 scholarship to Marcus Fairhead of Gordon-Rushville. Fairhead is planning on attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and major in business administration.

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