Going into this week, Western Plains High School Bobcat Boys basketball head coach Jerod Horchem declared it rivalry week since the Cats were having two home games.

To kick the week off, the Bobcats hosted one of their biggest rivals, inner-county foe Ness City High School.

The Bobcats played the best game of their season, but it wasn’t quite enough. They lost, 57-43.

Horchem said he really wanted to win the game, but he couldn’t complain about the effort of his team.

“They played with so much heart,” he said. “They wouldn’t give up. Even with like 30 seconds left in the game, they were still diving on the floor after the ball. I had to throw in the towel for them. It was great.”

Prior to the game the locker was nearly vibrating with the energy of the boys screaming and getting pumped up for the game, and that energy carried through the first half.

They went into the locker room at the intermission with a two-point lead, 23-21.

However, the third quarter was a killer for the Cats. WPHS only scored six points, while Ness City put in 19.

For the fourth quarter, the Cats battled back and played with the Eagles, only getting outscored by three points, 17-14.

The damage was done, though.

Senior Eric Dysinger led the Cats in scoring, putting 18 on the board. Senior Shane Corsair was right on his heels with 17 points of his own.

Only two other Bobcats scored. Junior Chase Rein had six and freshman Casey Kraus had two.

As a team, the Bobcats only turned the ball over five times, and they pulled down 10 defensive and six offensive boards.

Dysinger was dominant in the rebounding game. He had four defensive and three offensive rebounds to his credit alone.

Dysinger also had the team-high steals. He took the ball from the Eagles five times.

Defensively, the Bobcats held the two top Eagles, John and Drew Clarke, to a combined total of 12 points. Drew Clarke only got four of those.

“They played the best game they could have,” Horchem said. “The only way it could have gone better is if more of our shots fell.”

The Bobcats left the court Tuesday with a loss, but if you listened to the crowd, it would have seemed as though the Cats won.

The crowd  was very involved in the game. Rarely did the gym go silent, and the coaching staff thought that was great.

They said they hope they get the same response for Friday’s game when the Cats take on the Palco High School Roosters for the 2010 WPHS Basketball Homecoming game in Ransom.

JV boys lose

The junior varsity Bobcats played a full game prior to the varsity action. It didn’t go well.

The Eagles won, 51-18.

The Bobcats got shutout in the first and fourth quarters. Seven of their points came in the second period, and the remaining 11 came in the third.

Freshman Casey Kraus led the team with six points, followed closely by freshman Hugo Hernandez with five points.

Freshman Colton Rein had three, and freshman Dylan Moore had four.