Class B Boys State Basketball Preview
By Dean Backes
The Nebraska boys take their turn at center court this weekend and will crown six state champions over the course of the next four days. While many of the same programs are back in the hunt, there are plenty of schools making it on the brackets after missing the chaos for a year or two, or more.
Here at Heartland Prep Basketball Scoop, we’ve taken some time to crunch numbers and pick the field ahead of this weekend’s State Basketball Tournament. Then, we gathered data from MaxPreps and elsewhere to make a list of the state tournament’s top players.
While there is just one rematch scheduled for Thursday’s Class B quarterfinal action, there is plenty of basketball excitement on the docket. MaxPreps Top-ranked Norris and No. 9 Lincoln Pius X will kick off Class B state tournament action Thursday at 1:30 PM at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
The Titans edged Pius X 73-66 in late January before posting a 76-33 win over the Thunderbolts Feb. 28.
No. 3 Omaha Skutt Catholic and eighth-ranked Douglas County West will then go head-to-head at about 3:15 PM. No. 5 Scottsbluff then squares off against sixth-ranked Gretna East at 6 PM at PBA while No. 2 Wahoo takes the court against fourth-ranked Elkhorn North in the PBA night cap.
Now, let’s take a look at the weekend’s Class B field.
Picking the Class B Field
No. 1 Norris (24-2) over No. 9 Lincoln Pius X (14-10)
No. 3 Omaha Skutt Catholic (21-5) over No. 8 Douglas County West (22-4)
No. 5 Scottsbluff (23-3) over No. 6 Gretna East (17-7)
No. 2 Wahoo (22-4) over No. 4 Elkhorn. North (18-5)
No. 1 Norris (25-2) over No. 3 Omaha Skutt Catholic (22-5)
No. 2 Wahoo (23-4) over No. 5 Scottsbluff (24-3)
Championship: No.1 Norris (26-2) over No. 2 Wahoo (24-4)
Dark Horse: Elkhorn North
Nebraska Class B Boys Scoring Leaders
Sutton Piatkowski, Elkhorn North 447 Points (19.4)
Dylan Simons, Wahoo 480 Points (18.5)
Brock Scholl, Omaha Skutt Catholic 449 Points (17.3)
Nate Kelley, Scottsbluff 436 Points (16.8)
Parker Kelly, Lincoln Pius X 388 Points (16.2)
Chris Garner, Jr., Norris 381 Points (14.7)
Kellen Murphy, Elkhorn North 331 Points (14.4)
Michael Haith, Lincoln Pius X 341 Points (14.2)
Barret Boesiger, Norris 357 Points (13.7)
Rylee Meininger, Scottsbluff 346 Points (13.3)
Nolan Asher, Douglas County West 340 Points (13.1)
Talan Hovie, Gretna East 314 Points (13.1)
Nike Orgilbold, Elkhorn North 281 Points (12.2)
Tre Boswell, Scottsbluff 301 Points (11.6)
Drayke Brown, Gretna East 278 Points (11.6)
Cody Hesser, Wahoo 291 Points (11.2)
Nebraska Class B Boys Rebound Leaders
Sutton Piatkowski, Elkhorn North 202 Rebounds (8.8)
Brock Scholl, Omaha Skutt Catholic 216 Rebounds (8.3)
George Ziebell, Omaha Skutt Catholic 199 Rebounds (8.0)
Nolan Asher, Douglas County West 191 Rebounds (7.3)
Dylan Simons, Wahoo 172 Rebounds (6.6)
Michael Haith, Lincoln Pius X 139 Rebounds (5.8)
Keon Delgado, Scottsbluff 141 Rebounds (5.4)
Evan Greenfield, Norris 138 Rebounds (5.3)
Dez Smith, Scottsbluff 138 Rebounds (5.3)
Nate Kelley, Scottsbluff 137 Rebounds (5.3)
Nebraska Class B Boys Assist Leaders
Nate Kelley, Scottsbluff 131 Assists (5.0)
Kyle Cannon, Omaha Skutt Catholic 108 Assists (4.2)
Talan Hovie, Gretna East 94 Assists (3.9)
Alec Small, Norris 98 Assists (3.8)
Evan Greenfield, Norris 90 Assists (3.5)
Dylan Simons, Wahoo 82 Assists (3.2)
Dez Smith, Scottsbluff 78 Assists (3.0)
Jake Hawley, Gretna East 71 Assists (3.0)
Dylan Van Dyke, Omaha Skutt Catholic 79 Assists (3.0)
MaCoy Folkerts, Norris 67 Assists (2.7)
Alexander Weber, Lincoln Pius X 63 Assists (2.7)
Nolan Asher, Douglas County West 70 Assists (2.7)
Will Bergsten, Douglas County West 65 Assists (2.5)
Kip Brigham, Wahoo 66 Assists (2.5)
Charlie Morrow, Lincoln Pius X 56 Assists (2.4)
Cody Hesser, Wahoo 62 Assists (2.4)
Nike Orgilbold, Elkhorn North 55 Assists (2.4)
Jase Kaminski, Wahoo 59 Assists (2.3)
Kellen Murphy, Elkhorn North 52 Assists (2.3)
Cooper Rice, Norris 53 Assists (2.2)
Rylee Meininger, Scottsbluff 56 Assists (2.2)
Drayke Brown, Gretna East 53 Assists (2.2)
Karsten Alexander, Douglas County West 53 Assists (2.0)
Tre Boswell, Scottsbluff 51 Assists (2.0)
Gideon Lindeman, Omaha Skutt Catholic 47 Assists (2.0)
Nebraska Class B Boys Steal Leaders
Dylan Simons, Wahoo 76 Steals (2.9)
Evan Greenfield, Norris 62 Steals (2.4)
Nate Kelley, Scottsbluff 55 Steals (2.1)
Nebraska Class B Boys Block Leaders
Dylan Simons, Wahoo 57 Blocks (2.2)
George Ziebell, Omaha Skutt Catholic 33 Blocks (1.3)
Cris Garner, Jr., Norris 21 Blocks (0.8)
Brock Scholl, Omaha Skutt Catholic 22 Blocks (0.8)
Nolan Asher, Douglas County West 18 Blocks (0.7)
Keon Delgado, Scottsbluff 19 Blocks (0.7)
Shane Holen, Norris 10 Blocks (0.5)
Evan Greenfield, Norris 12 Blocks (0.5)
Michael Haith, Lincoln Pius X 13 Blocks (0.5)
Kolbe Volkmer, Lincoln Pius X 11 Blocks (0.5)
Zane Wohlers, Douglas County West 13 Blocks (0.5)
Karsten Alexander, Douglas County West 13 Blocks (0.5)
William Farrington, Elkhorn North 12 Blocks (0.5)