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Tigers win three this past week

BY MR. SCHULZE on December 10, 2017

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                This week was a basketball packed week for the Osmond boys’ squad. The Tigers began the week with a road trip to Wakefield to play a freshman/sophomore game, a contest the Tigers won by 9. As the week rolled on, Osmond would play junior varsity and varsity action on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. It was a challenging week physically and mentally for the Tiger hoopsters, but in the end their season continues with an unblemished start. Including a 5-0 record for the JV and 9/10 teams!

                Tuesday night proved to be a great test for the Tigers in their regular season home opener, hosting the Boyd County Spartans. The game began with Keaton Timmerman splashing in a 3 point basket for the Tigers, off an Aaron Chishiba assist, and giving the home crowd some energy early on. Both teams would battle it out back and forth throughout the first half. Each squad was highly active on defense and forced each offense to execute their game plan. Osmond outscored the Spartans by 6 in the 3rd quarter, maintaining control of the game heading into the 4th.”We needed to speed the game up in the 2nd half. We felt much of the first 16 minutes were played at Boyd County’s pace and we wanted to get them out of their comfort zone and find ours at the same time,” mentioned Coach Todd Schulze.

                 The pace of the 3rd was definitely in Osmond’s favor, seeing Keaton Timmerman hustle and play physically in the paint, delivering big buckets inside for the Tigers. Both teams would go point for point in the final 8 minutes. A quarter that saw the Tigers ice the game, making 4 out 5 from the free throws, all by sophomore Aaron Chishiba who finished with 7 points. Schulze commented “I was able to observe several moments during the 4th where multiple guys were willing to step up and make the big play in crunch time. That demonstration of confidence is exciting!” Osmond would experience that opportunity in each of their next two contests.

                Osmond was led in scoring by Keaton Timmerman’s 27 points. Keaton recorded his 2nd straight double-double, hauling in 13 rebounds.  Alex Kumm once again played well, contributed 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists for the Tigers.

                The Wynot Blue Devils traveled to Osmond Thursday night, for the Tigers’ 2nd conference game of the season.  This game had a strange feel to it.  Shortly before the game’s opening tip the Tiger coaching staff found out one of Wynot’s best guards, Landon Wiesler, would not be playing due to an injury suffered the night before. Add to that, only a few minutes into the game Wynot would lose their other top guard, Nate Wiesler to an ankle injury. This forced the Blue Devils to make an adjustment and attempt to utilize their size and physicality near the basket.

                Coach Schulze commented, “I felt bad for their team that they had to see one of their teammates not finish a game due to injury two nights in a row. It seemed to take some of the competitive fire out of our guys for a while until we cranked up the intensity in the 2nd quarter.” The Tigers tallied up 9 more points than the Blue Devils in the 2nd, thanks in part to a pair of 3 pointers from senior, Tristan Maertins. “It was nice to see Tristan step up and knock down shots for us. What won’t show up in the scorebook is his effort on defense, getting 7 deflections during the game and diving on the floor for loose basketballs,” added Coach Schulze.

                As usual, Wynot gave great effort throughout the remaining 2 quarters but an aggressive-minded Osmond team led by Keaton Timmerman, on his way to a 3rd consecutive double-double(14 rebounds), proved to be too much for Wynot to handle. Timmerman cleaned up the offensive glass in the 3rd and 4th quarters helping to put away the Blue Devils and earn Osmond their 2nd straight home victory. Alex Kumm was big for the Tigers once again, sinking some back breaking 3 pointers that gave Osmond momentum throughout the game. The senior also made all 8 of his free throw attempts on his way to a 17 point night, to go along with his 8 rebounds and 5 assists.

                Saturday’s contest in Plainview was a 4 quarter grind out game that saw the Tigers come home with a win, 51-43 over the Pirates, grabbing their 3rd conference victory of the season. This game didn’t include a lot of consecutive positive plays or scoring runs by either team.  Each squad had games the night before, contributing to fatigue. The Tigers and Pirates both shot below 40% from the floor and and played aggressive but undisciplined defense, fouling frequently during the game. 42 fouls were called throughout the game, with 3 crucial ones being given to both Keaton Timmerman and Alex Kumm in the first half, forcing them to come out of the game. In addition, the Tigers managed to make just 11 of 28 free throw attempts during the contest.

                 “Immediately after the game I was disappointed after I checked out our stats and saw how poorly we had done in several categories. However, the more I thought about it, the better I felt. We had played a physically taxing game the night before, had a significantly “off” night tonight, but were still able to gain focus during halftime and use it to come away with a road victory against the most physical and talented Plainview team I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” summarized Todd Schulze.  

                Osmond got a big lift from its bench Saturday night, watching Aaron Chishiba contribute 14 points to the Tiger total.  Coach Schulze concluded, “Drew Krienert and Aaron provided a much needed energy and effort lift for us early in the 3rd quarter in our full court press and continued their intensity till the finish.” The full court press seemed to be just what the Tigers need, leading them to a 4-0 start.

                Also, congratulations to the Lady Tigers on their 2 victories this week.  I know the one on Tuesday night was extra special to them!