State Preview: Thunderbolts Striking Despite Early Struggles
Thirty-two. That’s the number of times that Lincoln Pius X has previously qualified for the NSAA state tournament, and 2018 is no different. The 16-8 Thunderbolts are coming into Pinnacle Bank Arena on the shoulders of their first mainly Class A schedule since taking the step up from Class B, and head coach Brian Spicka believes that they are weathered and ready to compete.
“We had some very good moments during the early part of the year, but we couldn’t find consistency,” Spicka said. “Pius has had a lot of success in class B, but we are new to this whole class A thing.”
Pius X, led by 6-foot junior guard Charlie Easley with 17.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, is set to square off with Omaha Creighton Prep on Thursday to open the tournament weekend. They traveled to the Heider Center in early February, and, despite being down 31-30 at halftime, dropped that game 73-52. Coach Spicka said that they were grateful for the experience and are excited to get another shot at the Junior Jays.
“We proved that we can play with a team that many consider to be the best in the state. We also proved that we weren’t ready to win a game against a team like that yet,” Spicka said. “The competitors in us are very glad that we get a chance to see how we have progressed since that last game.”
After going 4-5 in the month of December, the Thunderbolts finished their season 12-3 in the next two months, with the losses coming from Lincoln Southwest, Creighton Prep, and Omaha Skutt Catholic. That run was capped off last Monday when they took the district A-7 title with a 91-76 win over Millard South. Coach said that, although they would have obtained the NSAA Wild Card, the win did wonders for the players’ confidence levels.
“The losses we had in December were really important to the success we had in both January and February,” Spicka said.
7th-seed Lincoln Pius X will look to build on the momentum of scoring 91 points in their district final on Thursday, March 8, 2018, at 7 p.m. against 2nd-seed Creighton Prep at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln.