On Friday, June 17, 2022, the inaugural Mid-Nebraska Activities Conference versus the Minuteman Activities Conference All Star basketball game was played at Sutherland High School. The game featured players from both conferences located in central Nebraska and western Nebraska.
The MNAC girls team was coached by Trenton Kirchmann of Anselmo-Merna and Clint Svoboda of Mullen and the MAC team was coached by the South Platte duo of Andie Cheleen and Tom Weber. The MNAC boys team was coached by Brad Wright of Mullen and Andrew Christen of Sandhills-Thedford, while the MAC boys were coached by Cory Michelman of Potter-Dix and Chad Dormann of Garden County.
The girls game was a tight matchup for most of the game with each team providing a fast pace and sharp shooting from beyond the three point arc.
It was a tight matchup to start with the first quarter ending in a tie, 18-18. The MNAC was led by Megan Donegan of South Loup with 7 points, while Kailey Klein of Sioux County led the way with 5 points for the MAC.
The second quarter provided a barrage of three point field goals with five different players making a three point shot. Both Donegan and Klein continued their high scoring, finishing the half with 10 points and 12 points respectively. Taylor Svoboda of Mullen and Jaide Chandler of Anselmo-Merna provided some spark with 10 and 9 points respectively and Natalie Barry of Crawford gave the MAC 8 points. The MNAC led 38-33 at the half.
At halftime, the boys took the court for the 3 point contest. Participating in the contest were Trevor Kuncl of Mullen, Wyatt Lambertson of Anselmo-Merna, Bryce Hanna of Arthur County, Colbi Smith of South Platte, Thomas Muldoon of Potter-Dix, Federico Torres of Minatare, Jordon Underwood of Garden County and Ethan Reichman of South Platte.
The contest had a maximum of 22 points with 10 balls worth 1 point, 4 worth 2 points and 1 worth 4 points. Both Kuncl and Reichman led the way in the first round. In the second round Reichman led off with a 12 point performance and Kuncl followed with a 13 point performance, making five out of his final six shots finishing as the 3 point champion.
As the third quarter began, the MAC girls began a run with both Klein and Barry leading the way with some spark provided by Kamry Kramer of Garden County and Allison Lofton of South Platte. Cylee Jameson of Sandhills-Thedford kept the MNAC within striking distance as the 3 point shooting went frigid. At the end of three quarters the MAC led the MNAC 52-50.
While the third quarter may have been frigid from the three point line for the MNAC, they more than made up for it in the fourth quarter with a scorching hot performance with six three point field goals. Once again, Megan Donegan led the way with three 3 pointers in the final quarter. Ashlyn Henderson of Hyannis joined the three point party along with Svoboda and Chandler with each of them making a three point field goal. With the shooting performance, the MNAC pulled away to a 75-63 victory.
Megan Donegan was named Most Valuable Player with a 26 point performance and 6 three point field goals. While the girls game provided a close matchup, the boys game was a tale of two halves. The MAC team showed that they were ready to play and accepted the challenge, outscoring the MNAC 23-17 in the first frame. The MAC was led by Thomas Muldoon of Potter-Dix with 10 points in the opening frame, while Dalton Duryea of Anselmo-Merna and Ethan Nicholson of Sandhills Valley each had 4 points for the MNAC.
During the second quarter of action, the MAC continued with their hot shooting and rode a scoring influx by Ethan Reichman of South Platte who had 11 points in the quarter, finishing the half with 16 points. The MNAC continued to get solid contributions from both Duryea and Nicholson with 8 points each in the half and Wyatt Lambertson of Anselmo-Merna contributing 7 points. With the hot shooting, the MAC led 43-33 at half.
At halftime the girls three point contest was held with Lauren Stanley of South Platte, Kramer, Jameson, Henderson, Barry, Klein, Chandler and Donegan participating. Henderson came out of the gate with a solid 12 out of 22 shooting performance but that did not last long, with Barry shooting 13 out of 22 making her the 3 point champion. Chandler finished in a tie with Henderson at 12 out of 22 and the two of them went into a shootout for 2nd place, with Chandler finishing in 2nd place.
As the third quarter of the boys game kicked off, there was an obvious change of attitude with the MNAC team, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Led by a quick scoring burst by Kuncl, Nicholson and Liam Kostman of Hyannis, the MNAC pulled within 3 with a thunderous dunk by Kostman. The MAC called a timeout and reset themselves. With the shooting of Dillon Christiansen of Garden County, the MAC continued to keep the lead 62-57 at the end of the third.
In the third the MAC was led by Christiansen with 11 and Muldoon with 6, while the MNAC got 7 points from Kostman, 5 points each from Kuncl and Nicholson, and 4 points from Lambertson.
To start the fourth quarter, the MNAC started to heat up from behind the arc with two quick threes from Kostman and Kuncl, taking the lead 63-62. The MAC called a quick time out to reset and let Muldoon take over scoring a quick 5 points. But that was not enough to offset another three by Kostman and a couple of reverse layups by Nicholson. The MNAC took the lead, 70-67.
The lead did not last long with back to back threes for the MAC with Reichman and Christiansen connecting. But a steal and two hand slam by Kostman brought it within 2. On the ensuing position, Garrett Porter of Anselmo-Merna created a steal and passed to Bryce Hanna of Arthur County who was fouled. Hanna missed the first and made the second.
On the next possession, Muldoon drove the lane and kicked out to Eli Schmid of Creek Valley who drained a jumper to give the MAC the lead 75-73.
After a couple of stops by both teams, the MNAC got a spark from Kuncl. After an out of bounds call on the sideline, Kuncl got the inbounds throw, took two steps, and threw a baseball bounce pass from half court to hit Duryea for a layup on the right block, tying the game. The MAC brought it to half court and called a timeout with 1:45 to play.
Out of the timeout, the MAC ran the clock down and appeared to want to get Muldoon or Reichman open but stifling defense by Kuncl and Lambertson did not allow that to happen. Schmid took a three and missed, with Kostman getting the rebound and immediately finding Kuncl. Kuncl dribbled to half court in front of Coach Wright and took a timeout.
Out of the timeout, the MAC intensified their defense, focusing on stopping Kostman. After a hand-off from Nicholson to Kuncl, Kuncl drove the right side of the lane kissing a one handed floater off the glass to take the lead 77-75 with less than a minute to play.
After the make, the MAC brought the ball up the court and Kuncl almost picked the pocket of Muldoon who quickly recovered. After about 10 seconds of play the MAC called their final timeout. With some intense pressure, the MAC got the ball into Reichman who brought it up the court. After a series of passes, Schmid broke to the basket beating Kostman, but Nicholson was there for the game saving block at the basket. Duryea got the rebound passed to Nicholson who threw to Kostman who was fouled. After Kostman missed the front end of the one and one, Duryea pulled down the rebound and got the ball to Kuncl who dribbled out the clock, providing MNAC with the win. Liam Kostman was named the Most Valuable Player of
the game leading the MNAC with 19 points. Also for the MNAC were Ethan Nicholson with 17 points,Trevor Kuncl with 12 points, Wyatt Lambertson with 11 points and Dalton Duryea ended with 10 points.
For the MAC, Thomas Muldoon led all scorers with 23 points. Ethan Reichman ended with 19 points, Dillon Christiansen with 16 points, and Eli Schmid with 7 points.