BOYS BASKETBALL: No. 3 Central Pulls Away from Northeast Late In 2nd Half

LINCOLN–(KFOR Feb. 15)–Lincoln Northeast wrapped up the toughest stretch of their boys basketball schedule Saturday night, ultimately falling to Class A No. 3 Omaha Central, but the Rockets still put forth great effort.

The Rockets trailed by ten to start the fourth quarter, but the Eagles pulled away by scoring 25 points in the final frame to earn a 72-50 at the Ed Johnson Gym, in a game heard on KFOR FM103.3/1240AM.

In the past four games, Northeast has faced Lincoln North Star, Millard North, Creighton Prep and Central, all of which have been losses by 11 points or more.

Central (16-3) led 47-37 after three quarters, then Jayden Dawson hit a three-pointer and senior guard Latrell Wrightsell, Jr. sank a pair of free throws.  After Northeast senior guard Carson Busch hit one of two free-throws, Max Polk nailed a mid-range jump shot to put the Eagles up 54-38 with six minutes to play.

Central out scored Northeast 18-12 the rest of the period.

The Eagles sprinted out to a 7-0 run in the first minute of the game, when Dawson hit a three-pointer, while Wrightsell and PJ Davis scored from close range.  Central led 16-10 after the first quarter.

Northeast (7-15) answered with a three-pointer from 5-8 senior guard Jake Bard to pull to within three, but Wrightsell answered on the other end for Central to extend the lead back to five.

The Eagles went up 26-17 after Davis scored underneath the basket with 4:10 left in the second quarter.  Central’s lead then cracked double-digits when Anthony Hoskins swished a three-pointer with 1:14 left in the first half for a 31-21 advantage.

Busch kept the Rockets within reaching distance for most of the third quarter.  He scored in back-to-back  to cut the deficit to as low as seven before Wrightsell answered with a basket with 3:09 left in the quarter to extend Central’s lead back to 43-34.

Wrightsell scored 21 points for the Eagles and got help from Polk’s 12 points and Davis’ 10.

Busch led all scorers with 24 points and Bard added 10 points for the Rockets, who were without the services of 6-2 senior guard and leading scorer Pierce Bazil for unknown reasons.