1,000-Point Trio Leading Warriors At State

For the first time in 26 years, Neligh-Oakdale is headed to the state tournament thanks to its three-headed monster on offense.

The 1,000-point career scoring mark is an incredible feat in high school hoops. On average, a four-year starter would have to average double-digit scoring each season to just hit the mark.

Fortunately for Neligh-Oakdale, they have three players that have hit the legendary mark to lead them into the team’s first state tournament since 1991.

Grant White, Tyson Belitz and Alex Kerkman lead the high-scoring Warriors into the tournament after a season that saw the team go 24-3. Each player is capable of scoring in a variety of ways.

White has made his mark from downtown, hitting 86 shots from beyond the arc at a rate of 43 percent. Belitz uses his length and strong ball-handling skills to move into the paint to score, often drawing contact to get to the free-throw line. Kerkman, the tallest of the three, is a mismatch waiting to happen. He is tall enough and quick enough to get inside on smaller defenders and has enough range to connect from outside.

However, none of the three will take total credit for leading the team to success.

“I think we all just play off of each other really well,” said Belitz.

The trio knows that, while they get the glory for lighting up the scoreboard, none of it would be worth it if their teammates didn’t contribute unselfishly.

“Chris (Bentley) might not score a lot, but he moves the ball a lot. Austin (Rice) gets a lot of good boards,” said Kerkman. “Chris shot one shot last game. He doesn’t care about points, he just wants to win.”

Belitz added, “Clayton’s been playing really big minutes lately. He makes a big impact when he comes in. He’s always hitting timely shots to keep it close or help us get the game out of hand.”

White agreed and said the entire team is key, regardless of who makes the baskets.

“Knowing you have guys that can come off the bench and help like they do, it helps a lot,” he said.

That team-first mentality has set the Warriors up to potentially make history.

“We have a chance to do something really special,” said coach Frank Gade. “They know that and understand it.”

The end goal for Neligh-Oakdale is to finish as state champions for the first time in school history. Only twice have the Warriors found themselves in the finals - 1923 and 1928.

As a matter of fact, no team from Neligh-Oakdale has earned a win at the tournament since 1973 when the Warriors took down Oakland in the opening round.

​Needless to say, there is a lot of excitement surrounding Neligh-Oakdale’s upcoming trip to Lincoln. With excitement often comes nerves. However, that’s not the case for the confident Warriors.

“We were pretty nervous before the West Holt game just because we had played them two times,” said Belitz. “Now we’ve won 12 or 13 in a row, so we are pretty confident coming in. Watching on film, they are definitely beatable.”

In this case, “they” refers to N-O’s first-round opponent, Amherst. The Broncos find themselves in the tournament for the third-straight year. When looking at the film, Gade said he saw a lot of his own team in Amherst.

“They have a couple of kids who are kind of like Tyson and Grant, honestly,” he said. “They have one kid who averages 19 and is basically a left-handed Grant. They have another kid on the inside. He can go outside but does most of his damage on the inside.”

Despite not meeting the Broncos all year, the similarities between his squad and Amherst have made it easy for Gade and his staff to gameplan. As with most successful coaches, however, he hasn’t changed much of his approach simply because of the circumstances of the game.

“We’re going to try and do the same stuff we always do,” he said. “We’re not changing a whole lot of stuff. At this point, you really can’t. We’ve been winning basketball games all year long. There’s no reason to change now.”

As if there was any question whether Gade’s team was ready for the challenge ahead of them in Lincoln still, one of the 1,000-point trio summed up the Warriors’ focus perfectly.

“Our plan has been since third grade to get here,” said White. “We’ve been working since then, nonstop pretty much, just to get where we are. Now we’re here.”

​The Warriors will kick off their quest for the schools’ first state title on Thursday at 3:45 p.m. against Amherst at Lincoln Southeast High School.