North Platte scored 14 unanswered points in the first quarter on Thursday against Gering and never looked back on its way to a 67-46 victory at the Dawg House.

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"I just thought we set the tone early with our intensity and offensive rebounding," said NPHS coach Matt Kaminski.

The Dawgs (13-5) took a 15-9 lead a little over five minutes into the game after Kade Erickson made three-pointers on consecutive possessions.

After making his second and third treys of the game, Erickson then set up Shane Mauch for a reverse layup on the next bucket.

The lead then became 10 when Drew Callaghan got a layup to go down. Then on the other end, Callaghan blocked Grant Olsson.

Olsson, the starting center for Gering (11-8), appealed to the official that he thought Callaghan should have been called for a foul on the play. He was given a technical foul and Mauch made both of the ensuing free throws to make it 21-9.

Both teams traded three-pointers to end the quarter and it was 24-12 at the end of the first quarter.

North Platte couldn't keep up the torrid pace it set in the first quarter but Gering never made a run to get back in it either. Kaminski said that his team continued to play well on defense after it cooled a little on offense.

"We did a super job of moving our feet and pressuring the ball better as the game went along," he said.

Gering 12 7 9 18 - 46

North Platte 24 12 11 20 - 67

Gering (46)-Joses Palomo 5, Christian Groskopf 14, Austin Hoffman 11, Zac Bibb 3, Gage Winkler 2, Austin Ferguson 3, Grant Olsson 8

North Platte (67)-Shane Mauch 9, Kade Erickson 19, Jack Kenny 5, Darian Allberry 4, Drew Callaghan 25, Nick Wilkinson 2, Kolby Foote 1, Luke Wright 2

Free Throws: G 13-17, NP 15-19; Three Point Goals: G 3 (Palomo, Groskopf, Hoffman), NP 8 (Erickson 5, Mauch, Kenny, Callaghan)