The Chadron Cardinals came to town Tuesday night for their second meeting with the Alliance boy’s basketball team. Chadron overcame a red hot start by the Bulldogs and downed the hosts 63 to 54 in an exciting contest. Back on January 22, Alliance fell to Chadron 64 to 52 in the ball game played in Chadron. The Dogs jumped out to an early double digit lead in the second period only to see the guests storm back to garner the victory. Chadron also was better in the JV game played earlier in the night at Alliance Middle School. The Cards defeated the Bulldogs 49 to 36. With the loss the varsity squad now sees its record fall to 5 and 13 on the year. It was also senior night for Alliance as six athletes were honored. The six were: Tristen Timbers, Landen Crowe, Bert Trevino, Jackson Norris, Filippo Bandera, and Jonah Amill.
A free throw by the guests began the scoring in the opening moments of the first. Alliance then went on a mini 6 to 0 run to surge ahead by 5. Points in the run by Norris and Timbers gave the hosts the lead at 6 to 1. The Cards answered back with a 2 pointer plus a three that tied the score at 6 all. At the 4 minute mark it was Alliance’s turn to seize the momentum. Two 2 pointers by Timbers and a trey by Bandera helped the Bulldogs move ahead 13 to 6. The quarter ended with a Chadron goal and AHS leading 13 to 8. It was all Alliance in the early minutes of the second. The Bulldogs received 5 points by Seth Meyring and 4 from Espen Lanik to build a lead at 22 to 10. A free throw by Trevino, a 2 pointer by Norris, and a three by Lanik later in the period pushed the Alliance advantage to 28 to 17 with under 4 minutes to play in the half. Unfortunately, it was Chadron responding to the Bulldog run with 10 straight points as the half ended with Alliance only ahead 28 to 27.
An old fashion three point play by the Cardinals is how things began in third. It gave Chadron its first lead since 1 to 0. A Timbers’ three later in the third kept the Dogs close but the Cards countered with the game’s next 6 points to give Chadron a 38 to 31 lead midway through the period. A goal by Meyring stopped the run and trey by Bandera helped Alliance stay in striking distance. The quarter finished with another Meyring basket and 3 by Lanik but 5 straight Cardinal points helped the guests increase their lead by 10. Heading to the fourth, the Cards led 51 to 41. Threes by Timbers and Lanik plus a 2 pointer by Meyring gave the Dogs a chance in the opening minutes of the fourth. Down 54 to 49 the Bulldogs went scoreless. The momentum would then go to the side of Chadron as the guests ran off 6 straight. A three point play by Lanik sliced the Bulldog margin to 8 at 60 to 52 with under two minutes to play. In the final moments, Chadron would tack on a 2 pointer and a free throw, while another hoop by Timbers would account for the final points by Alliance. Final Chadron 63 Alliance 54
CHAD 8 19 24 12 63
ALL 13 15 13 13 54
Two Dogs would score 16 points apiece as both Timbers and Lanik paced the Alliance offense. Meyring tossed in 11 while Bandera was good for 6. Scoring 4 was Norris and adding one was Trevino.