Eagles race out to early lead, capture subdistrict title

JOHNSON, Neb. - The top-seeded Johnson-Brock Eagles raced out to an early 17-point lead over second-seeded Pawnee City Thursday night, claiming the D1-1 subdistrict championship and advancing to the district final next week with a 68-43 win in front of a raucous home crowd in Johnson. 

The game started the same way as it did Tuesday night for the Eagles and that's with a 3-pointer. Coming off just two points in the semifinals, senior Nic Parriott came off a screen and drilled a right wing 3-pointer on the games first possession. 

Senior guard Sloan Pelican then came down the floor and hit a left corner 3-pointer to make it 6-0 Johnson-Brock right away. 

Pawnee City (13-10) scored on its second possession as senior post-player Joseph Marteney got free from the right wing, making one of his three 3s on the night on his way to 10 points. 

But that's as close as the Indians would get the rest of the night as Johnson-Brocks offensive onslaught continued for a fourth straight game. Freshman Brody Koehler--who tied the school record with seven 3-pointers on Tuesday--came into the game and hit a pretty step back mid-range jumper after dribbling behind his back followed by a 3-pointer to make it 15-5 in the first. 

The Eagles (21-4) took a 23-6 lead and kept the 17-point lead into the locker room. A big story for the Indians was sophomores Anthony Kling (18.6 ppg) and Jett Farwell (17.6) were held to four combined points in the first half with all four coming from Kling. 

Farwell got going in the second half, scoring 14 points, but the deficit proved too large for the Indians to climb back from. 

Johnson-Brock shot 49 percent from the floor for the game and assisted on 20 of its 27 made field goals. Nine players scored for JB with sophomore Camden Dalinghaus leading the charge with an impressive stat line: 14 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. 

Junior Lleyton Behrends added 12 points, too, for the Eagles. 

During its four-game winning streak, Johnson-Brock is scoring 73.3 points per game and winning by an average of 33 points per game. Pawnee City's 25-point defeat was the closest game for the Eagles during their current streak. 

The Eagles will enter the district final as one of the hottest teams in the state and just might be seventh year head coach Lucus Dalinghaus' best team since his 2018 state championship squad. 

With weather impacting some games Thursday night, all boys district finals will be played Monday or Tuesday according to the NSAA. District finals matchups will be announced late Friday evening or early Saturday.

Box Score:

Pawnee City (13-10): 6, 12, 11, 14 - 43

Johnson-Brock (21-4): 23, 12, 20, 13 - 68