On senior night the Chants hosted Broken Bow. The Chants had a rough start and missed early opportunities to take a lead which allowed Broken Bow to take a 14-9 lead after the 1st quarter. “We had a chance offensively to get some buckets and we just didn’t convert and that hurt us in the end.” Coach Gates said. Gates added “In the 2nd quarter our defensive energy and movement on offense was not where it has been and that was disappointing.” The Indians were able to grow their lead to 13 before half. The third quarter saw the Chants rally and cut the lead to four but were unable to sustain the comeback and Broken Bow was able to run the lead to seven before the 4th. Again the Chants would try to rally but the rally would fall short and the Indians would win the game 52-43. The Chants were led by Zach Smith with 13 points. Johnny DeRiso added ten. Quinton Ries had eight points and eight rebounds. Reese Davenport added seven rebounds and seven points. It was the last game at home for seniors Reese Davenport, Brett Hinrichs, Gage Smith, Austin Trejo, Tyson Skinner, and Riley Warner.
On Friday Night the Chants travelved to O’Neill to open the new gym at O’Neill High School. The Chants and Eagles started the game slow offensively before the Eagles were able to take a 2 point at the end of the 1st quarter. The Eagles would stretch the lead to six before the Chants tied the game again. Which would be the story of the rest of the game with both teams making runs. The Chants would be down four at half but within the first three minutes of the 2nd half the Chants would have a lead of four. “We did a lot of good things offensively in the 3rd quarter.” Coach Gates said. After three the Chants would only be down two going into the fourth. The Chants would tie the game with a Zach Smith three with two minutes left. The Eagles would hit a three with 4 seconds left to take a three point lead. After unsuccessful inbound the Chants would foul the Eagles. However, the Eagles would miss the free throw with 2.6 seconds left which would give the Chants enough time to get up a shot from half court that would go in and out and the Chants would fall to the Eagles 49-46. “This was a pretty exciting game and this is a game that we can use to build on for the last week of the season.” Coach Gates said. The Chants were led by Reese Davenport with 15 points. Zach Smith added 11 for the Chants. Johnny DeRiso had eight points and seven rebounds.