Make it six straight Western Trails Conference Tournament championships for the Kimball boys basketball team.

The Longhorns extended their history-making run with a commanding 69-33 win over Gordon-Rushville in Saturday's title game at Western Nebraska Community College's Cougar Palace in Scottsbluff.

Kimball was led to its one-sided win by sophomores Mike Daum and Jake Reader. The two combined for 38 points. Reader scored 21 points and Daum finished with 17.

Reader said it felt good to carry on the tradition. The Longhorns have now won conference tournament championships since 1996.

"It is a great feeling. We are building a legacy from years past. We just keep up with all the teams," Reader said. "We are working on keeping the success. It is tough to win because everyone is gunning for us, but we pull it out."

What motivated the Longhorns the most entering the tournament was a one-point loss to Bridgeport last weekend. Since then, Kimball has taken little mercy on its opponents outscoring them 195-107 in the three games of the tournament, including a 40-point revenge win over Bridgeport in Friday's semifinals.

"That loss to Bridgeport caused us to be out for revenge," Reader said. "We wanted this pretty bad."

The first quarter proved to be a battle as Kimball ran out to a 9-2 lead only to watch Gordon-Rushville cut the deficit to 11-8 on a Joe Jacobson 3-pointer. Kimball pushed its lead to 22-12 after one period on buckets by Daum and Caleb Reuter.

Kimball led 35-24 at halftime.

Any hope of a Mustang comeback was extinguished in the third period as Kimball went on a 14-0 run that spanned five minutes, which gave the Longhorns a commanding 52-28 lead. Reader scored nine of those points in the paint. Kimball led 54-32 after three quarters.

"Coach [Bruce Tjosvold] said they were tired and for us to keep running the ball," Reader said. "Our defense played well. We just packed in the 2-3 and they couldn't go inside on us."

Gordon-Rushville was led in scoring by Kalen Coats with 13 points. Coats put the Mustangs into the championship game after hitting a buzzer beater to beat Hemingford on Friday.

Trevan Hinton added 10 points for Kimball.

Kimball (15-4)........................22 13 19 15 - 69

Gordon Rushvlle (10-7)..........................12 12 8 1 - 33

KIMBALL

Jeff Greenwood 7, Brent Bussinger 4, Trevan Hinton 10, Caleb Reuter 5, Jordan Berger 3, Mike Daum 17, Jake Reader 21.

GORDON-RUSHVILLE

Marcus Fairhead 2, Daniele Marozzi 9, Joe Jacobson 3, Renen Sahr 4, Kalen Coats 13, Kyle Anderson 2.

* * *

Bridgeport boys claim 3rd place

The Bridgeport boys basketball team beat Hemingford 50-42 on Saturday to claim third place in the Western Trails Conference Tournament.

Jaime Gonzales led the Bulldogs in scoring with 16 points, while Dylon Busskohl finished with 13. Kaleb DeCora added 11 points.

Hemingford was led in scoring by freshman Matthew Wood with 16 points followed by freshman Colt Foster with 11 points.

Bridgeport (13-6)........................13 8 12 17 - 50

Hemingford (12-4)........................11 6 10 15 - 42

BRIDGEPORT

Dylon Busskohl 13, Kaleb DeCora 11, Jaime Gonzales 16, Nick Pappas 2, Trevor Blomenkamp 8.

HEMINGFORD

Mattew Wood 16, Blake Hansen 6, Kyle Kaman 2, Kyle Kumpf 2, Brady Turek 5, Colt Foster 11.