Sidney's boys baskeball team split Eastern A games at Laurel and Billings Central during the weekend.
Sidney def. Central
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"I am really proud of the game our guys played tonight," Eagles head coach Rollie Sullivan said. "Central always plays us tough, but we hung in there."
After trading baskets with the Rams for the first 11 minutes of the game, Sidney began going on a roll building a lead of as much as 19 points before taking a 16-point lead into the locker room, 43-27.
Central would attempt to mount a comeback in the second half cutting the Eagles lead to just six, 66-60, with 1:07 to play before Sidney scored the final four points to get the 10 point margin.
Eagles senior Jordan Abelseth led all scorers with 25 points. Also tallying for Sidney were senior Nathan Johnson with 19, senior Allen Andersen with eight, senior Matt Brenner and junior Tyrell McPherson each with five, senior Devin Bell and sophomore Mitch Kallevig with three each as well as senior Jared Baisch with two.
Leading the Rams was senior Daniel Pearson with 14 points.
The Eagles will return to action on Tuesday night when they host Glendive before traveling to Hardin for the regular season finale on Saturday. With just percentage points separating, Glendive, Hardin, Central and Sidney, for second though fifth in the Eastern A standings, these final two games take on added importance as the teams scramble for the coveted bye into the second round of the divisional tournament. "We still have a shot to improve our seeding, and we hope to do just that," Sullivan said.
Laurel def. Sidney
Basketball seemed to combine with "cops and robbers" in the Laurel High School gym on Friday.
As for the first three quarters of what would become a 53-35 loss to the host Locomotives, the Sidney Eagles boys basketball team appeared to be approaching the contest with a strategy befitting an FBI surveillance operation. Remain just close enough to the opponent to see him with out being perceived as threatening, then when they make a mistake go in for the take down. This time, however, the takedown never came.
Several times, up to as late in the game as 2:30 to play in the third quarter, the following pattern would repeat it self: Laurel would jump out to a 10 or 11 point lead only to see Sidney crawl back to within five or six points. Unfortunately for the Eagles, the Eastern A leading Locos never seemed to commit the final slip up. Laurel poured on the coal in the fourth quarter to earn the 18 point victory.
"It was a tough physical game and both teams played with a lot of courage. They (Laurel) just happened to get the win," Sidney head coach Rollie Sullivan said.
The Eagles were led in scoring by senior Allen Andersen with 15 points followed by senior Nathan Johnson with 10, senior Jordan Abelseth with six, senior Jared Baisch with three, junior Tyler McPherson with two and sophomore Mitch Kallevig with one point.
Leading the way for the Locos were junior Tim Simonich and senior Jordan Giles each with 15 points.
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