Sterling Jets win Championship at Parkview Christian Holiday Tournament
December 27 & 28, 2007
By Jimmy Motz
December 29, 2007
JETS WIN PARKVIEW CHRISTIAN HOLIDAY
TOURNAMENT
The Sterling boys basketball team won the 2007 Parkview
Christian Holiday Tournament last Thursday and Friday in
Lincoln. The Jets defeated College View Academy 41-28 in
the semifinals, and beat the Lincoln Lutheran JV team 62-44
to capture the championship.
"I am very proud of our group of young men" said coach Jimmy
Motz. "The kids were focused and you could tell that they
wanted to go to Lincoln to win this tournament. It's a
definitely a big step for our program and now we need to
keep taking steps."
Earning most valuable player and all-torunament recognition
were Zach Lempka and Jake Saathoff. Lempka earned the MVP
award for the tournament scoring 32 points and pulling down
24 rebounds in the two games. Saathoff had 20 points, 10
rebounds and 7 assists in the tournament.
COLLEGE VIEW
Sterling jumped out to a 10-2 lead, but only scored 10
points over the next 2 1/2 quarters. College View led 22-20
going into the four quarter, but junior Brandon Nieveen
knocked down three three point shots to give the Jets an
offensive boost.
"Brandon saved us again" Motz said. "He sparked us
offensively and hit some big shots. He busted the game wide
open."
The Jets outscored the Eagles 21-6 in the last quarter to
prevail with the win. Zach Lempka scored 14 points and
grabbed 13 rebounds. Jake Saathoff added 10 and Nieveen 9.
Sterling held College View standout Ben Origas to 8 points.
It was the first time all season Origas was in single
digits.
"Jake did a heck of a job on him" added Motz. "He was one
guy I was concerned with because of his ability to score.
Jake battled and didn't make it easy for him all game.
College View 4 10 8 6 28
Sterling 10 8 2 21 41
CVA- Adams 6, Gaskin 2, Moura 6, Origas 8, Buck 4, Peters
2
Sterling- Nieveen 9, Saathoff 10, D. Heusman 2, Lempka 14,
Thiel 6
LINCOLN LUTHERAN JV
The Jets used an 8-0 run to end the half and never looked
back in their championship game performance. Entering half
time up 25-23, D.J. Thiel scored the last six points of the
half to put the Jets up 2.
Sterling outscored the Warriors 37-21 in the second half.
Lempka scored a game high 18 points and pulled down 11
rebounds in the winning effort. Nieveen added 13 points, a
career high for him, while Saathoff added 10.
"This was a total team effort" Motz said. "We got
contributions from alot of kids and they stepped up and
played hard. Early on we didn't match their intensity and
once we kinda got going, we flew around and made some
plays."
The Jets now enter January with a 5-3 record and have two
home contests coming up this friday and saturday.
Humboldt-Table Rock-Steinaur comes to town friday night,
followed by Sidney, Iowa saturday.
"It's a huge weekend for us. We had two solid teams coming
into town and we'll need to be ready for them. With the
support we've gotten from the community these past eight
games, I expect us to pack that gym and watch our kids play
their tails off."
