By DELBERT PETERS

Staff writer

This was a week of two completely different games for the Bluebirds. On Dec. 14, none of the Goessel boys basketball team would score in double figures. On Friday, three players found 10 or more points.

The Goessel boys earned a win Friday in the first Wheat State League game of the season. The Bluebirds traveled to Wakefield and defeated the Bombers, 65-58.

Goessel jumped out to a lead of 11-2 and led 13-6 at the end of the first quarter. With the Bluebirds holding a comfortable 22-8 lead, Wakefield began chewing into the deficit. Before Goessel would score again, the Bluebirds only led by 5 points. Neal Brubaker, Corey Buller, and Peter Voth added points to build the Bluebird lead to 34-21 at halftime.

The Bluebirds maintained a lead by nearly 10 points for most of the third period as Cole McGee of Wakefield kept the Bombers in the game. Goessel led 48-36 at the end of three periods.

Wakefield outscored the Bluebirds 11-4 to begin the fourth quarter and the home team needed to foul in order to stop the clock. The Bluebirds hit 8 of 10 free throws with less than two minutes to play to keep their lead at 64-55 and then out-lasted the Bombers in the final 30 seconds to win, 65-58.

Corey Buller had a season-high 20 points, followed by Trey Schmidt with 15, and Davis Cook with 11 points. Brubaker added 9, Nic Buller knocked in 5, Voth 4, and Jake Smucker 1 point.

Moundridge

There were few easy baskets for the Bluebirds on Dec. 14 as they traveled to Moundridge.

The Wildcats won 49-31 hitting a perfect 15 free throws out of as many attempts while Goessel scored 3 points from the charity stripe.

Goessel had a short-lived lead early in the game, but Moundridge led at the end of the first quarter, 13-9. Early in the second period, the Bluebirds got within 3 points, but Moundridge scored 8 consecutive points to finish the quarter with a Wildcat lead of 26-15.

Goessel scored the first 5 points in the second half, but then went cold again as they trailed, 37-22, at the end of three quarters. As the Bluebirds fouled to stop the clock, Moundridge scored 10 of their 12 fourth-quarter points from the free-throw line.

Cook and Corey Buller led the team in scoring with 8 points apiece. Brubaker and Schmidt each had 6 points, with John Berkholz scoring 2 and Smucker 1.

The Goessel boys are now 3-3 going into the Christmas break and 1-0 in the Wheat State League. Goessel will continue the season in January with home games against Hope and Solomon on Jan. 4 and 7, respectively.