BEATRICE — Consecutive win No. 50 for Johnson-Brock was every bit as well-earned as any of the victories that came before it.
The last of 10 second-half lead changes put Johnson-Brock in front with 3:13 left, and the Class D-1 No. 1-ranked Eagles held off C-2 No. 2 Freeman for a 55-51 in the MUDECAS A Division championship at the Beatrice Municipal Auditorium.
The highly anticipated matchup, played before a standing-room-only crowd of around 900 in Beatrice’s venerable old barn, lived up to the hype.
Camden Dalinghaus scored 12 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter to lift the Eagles (14-0) to a tense win over a Freeman squad that had started this season 12-0.
“I don’t know how many games we’ve played, how many hours in the gym have built into that,†Dalinghaus said of his team’s ability to close out the game. “It’s been a good run.â€
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The run has made Johnson-Brock the 12th boys basketball program in Nebraska to win at least 50 consecutive games, with two D-1 state titles a part of the streak.
That experience showed in crunch time Friday.
Trailing 44-43, J-B got a bucket from Dalinghaus to go up 45-44 with 3:13 left. The Eagles then forced three consecutive Freeman turnovers that led to three free throws and a four-point lead.
Freeman, after going up 44-43, didn’t score for the next three minutes as Brody Koehler’s breakaway jam off another Freeman turnover gave Johnson-Brock a 52-44 lead.
Freeman (12-1) scored five points in the next 11 seconds to keep it interesting, but Johnson-Brock put the game away at the free throw line.
“Our goal, God willing, is to play for a state championship. And games like this need to happen so we can build the capacity to be able to win those games,†Johnson-Brock coach Lucus Dalinghaus said. “We need to be able to hit free throws down the stretch. We need to get defensive stops. And really, these kids answered that call tonight.â€
Koehler finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, and three blocked shots for Johnson-Brock.
Keegan White came off the bench to finish with 10 points and seven rebounds for Freeman (12-1). Aiden Glanz also had 10 points, while Trevor Reed added nine points and eight rebounds.
Freeman missed its first nine shots, committed five turnovers, and fell behind 8-0 to start the game before finding its footing with four second-quarter 3-pointers.
The Falcons scored the final six points of the second quarter to forge a halftime tie, then grabbed the first five points of the third to take a 27-22 lead and force a Johnson-Brock timeout.
“You’ve got to earn these types of wins against teams like that,†Freeman coach Jim McLaughlin said. “I thought our aggressiveness got a lot better (after the first quarter). And then once we flipped that switch, then we played more our style of basketball.â€
Johnson-Brock has plenty of challenges remaining as it tries to add to its winning streak. The Eagles have games remaining against 13-1 EMF, who they beat in the MUDECAS semifinals, and a rematch with Freeman followed two days later by a road trip to C-2 No. 1 Summerland in mid-February.
“It’s a big deal for us, because we take a lot of pride in that we want to take the approach that it is hard to beat us,†Lucus Dalinghaus said. “These guys, when the seniors were freshmen, they had a 49-game winning streak in JV. So it’s just that program culture that, we’re going to come out every game, and our goal is to win.
“We don’t accept losing. We’re competitors. And these kids have really bought into that.â€
