By DELBERT PETERS

Contributing writer

Over 4 minutes ticked off the game clock before Goessel High School player Davis Cook powered his way to the bucket to start a run of 4 points Dec. 18 in Goessel.

The GHS boys trailed the Hope Lions 8-4 at the end of the first quarter. Bluebird Ben Wiens started the scoring in the second quarter. Nic Buller put in two more buckets, giving the Bluebirds their first lead of the game 10-9, and the home team never trailed for the remainder of the contest.

Goessel went on an 11-2 run punctuated by a break-away dunk by Cook and led 19-13 at halftime.

Senior Trey Schmidt scored 7 points in the third period, and the Bluebirds continued their tough defense. They closed the third quarter ahead, 34-23.

Goessel used an 8-0 run at the beginning of the fourth to build a 19 point lead. They won by a final score of 49-31.

The Bluebird defense came up with 20 steals and out rebounded Hope 31-21. Buller led scorers with 12 points, Schmidt added 11 and Cook hit 10 points. Also scoring for Goessel was Dan Smucker with 5, Reece Hiebert 4, Ben Wiens 3, and Lawton Makovec and Brian Hiebert each contributed 2 points.

The Bluebirds have a tough schedule in January, with the only home game being against Solomon on January 4. The boys are 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the Wheat State League.