On Tuesday, the Chant boys traveled to take on West Holt in Atkinson. The Chants used a fast start to take a one point lead after the 1st quarter. In the 2nd quarter the Chants would have an offensive dry spell that allowed the Huskies to take a 10 point lead with 2 minutes left in the half. The Chants would rally and cut the lead to four before half. “It was good to see us respond when we had some adversity in this game.” Coach Gates said. After half each team started trading buckets but a few big shots by the Huskies that would extend the lead back to 10 again. The Chants would find themselves down by seven going into the 4th. The Chants would claw their way back to cut the lead to three with two minutes left. A deep three by the Huskies would extend the lead to five before a missed shot by the Chants forced the Chants to foul. Late free throws by the Huskies would seal the game and extend the final score to 53-39. The Chants were led by Johnny DeRiso and Zach Smith with eight points each. Austin Trejo pitched in seven points. Reese Davenport added seven rebounds to go with his seven points in the contest.
On Friday, night the Chants hosted the C-1 #3 Kearney Catholic Stars. Early in the game the Chants were up to the challenge. The Chants were able to match in the 1st quarter and found themselves down by two after one. In the 2nd quarter the teams traded baskets until the last two minutes where the Stars went on a 4-0 run to stretch their lead to 26-18. After half the Chants were unable to stay with Kearney Catholic. The Stars were able to take a 16 point lead at the end of the 3rd. From there the Stars were able to keep the Chants at bay and won the game by a final of 56-32. “The scoreboard isn’t going to show how well we played tonight.” Coach Gates said. “ I am proud that we hung with one of the top teams in C-1 for a long time tonight and our defense kept us in the game but eventually they took advantage of our mistakes and were able to pull away from us” The Chants were led by Reese Davenport and Johnny DeRiso with eight points each.