Capacity reached at Lincoln East HS for Boys State Basketball

Posted By: Veronica Ortega

vortega@klkntv.com

You could feel the excitement of the crowd as Boys State Basketball fans came out to cheer on their favorite teams. Games scheduled at Lincoln East High School this morning drew in a ton of people.

In fact, the crowd was so big that the school reached its capacity and late arrivals had to wait to enter. The first match up was Walthill vs. Axtell, and fans were in line at 6:45 a.m. for the 9 a.m. tip-off.

"I jumped in line when there was already a big line to get in, and by the time I got in it was already full, and there was a lot more waiting in line. I didn’t know if they’d all make it in or not," said Eric Miller of Axtell, Nebraska.  

The athletic director of Lincoln East says they hit capacity of around 2,600 people so fans arriving for the next game were not turned away, but they had to wait outside.

"We held them outside for a little while after the first quarter of the first game, until we got through half of the first game and then we let them come in," said the Athletic Director of Lincoln East, Wendy Henricks.

They say people waited patiently and caused no trouble. Some say Boys State Basketball usually draws a lot of attention, but they’ve never seen this many supporters.

"I’ve never seen it this big in the morning, this early, usually you come here and the tops are wide open, but it’s pretty packed in there," said Jordan High of Clay Center, Nebraska.