Eagles dispatch Dragons 76-67




 

 

Not having a pair of regular contributors in the arsenal, AJ Vanderby and Jordan Ward, the Southwest Christian boys’ basketball team had to make due with a smaller lineup in its Red Rock Conference road battle with the Adrian Dragons Monday evening in Adrian.
Despite losing their legs down the stretch, the Eagles made the most of the players they had suited up in hanging on for a 76-67 victory.
“We definitely looked a little tired; missing Jordan, with his knee problem, and AJ missing two guys out of rotation made it more difficult but no excuses there, the guys made enough plays to win,” SWC head coach Jamie Pap said following the tilt. “We shot well enough, especially in the first half, to get a lead and hang on.”
Well enough is perhaps an understatement, as SWC hit 13-of-25 shots from beyond the arc to counter the strong interior efforts of Adrian’s Zach Hendel (27 points) and Mitchell Lonneman (16 points, nine rebounds).
Eagle junior guard Jeremy Vander Woude (13 points) paced the visitors from the perimeter, converting a quartet of three-pointers, while classmate Jared Vis (nine points) drained three treys.
When the Eagles weren’t connecting from the perimeter, Colby Den Herder (23 points) and Levi Vander Woude (13 points) were converting in the paint off slippery entry passes from Dalton Vis (four assists), Jared Vis (four assists) and Jeremy Vander Woude (three assists).
Levi Vander Woude bookended the tilt with his scoring efforts, knocking down a pair of interior shots to lift the visitors to an early advantage.
Den Herder followed with a similar bucket before the Eagles set to task on the perimeter.
Connecting on six consecutive markers from beyond the arc, the Eagles doubled their seven-point advantage (16-9) with four minutes remaining in the half (40-26).
Adrian looked to Hendel to counteract the treys, and the Dragon junior forward did enough to keep the Eagles within range.
Den Herder owned the final minutes of the first half, however, scoring a
 

 

reverse layup to spark a personal run of eight points. Dalton Vis added a three-pointer before the horn, and the Eagles carried a 47-30 lead into the break.
Den Herder’s play was not only crucial to the Eagles’ offensive set, but also his versatility came through in helping Levi Vander Woude guard the paint.
“It did,” Pap said. “He had to play the 5 a little bit with Levi in foul trouble, but he can also step out and shoot that 3 too. He’s very athletic and can jump out of the gym. He’s not tall, but that doesn’t let that stop him.”
The Dragons made short runs, against a tiring Eagle roster, throughout the second half.
The Eagles kept the hosts at bay for most of the frame with another strong perimeter performance, but a trio of buckets from Adrian’s Hendel, Nate Lonneman and Mitchel Lonneman pulled the Dragons to within five points (70-65) with one minute, 31 seconds to play.
Off Mitchell Lonneman’s bucket, the Eagles located a streaking Levi Vander Woude up court, and the center converted while being fouled.
The SWC senior added the free throw, and hit three-of-four from the stripe in the closing minute to seal the victory.
“Give Adrian credit, they fought hard and came ready to play,” Pap said. “Defensively, in the half court, I was really satisfied with our help defense on their two big guys inside. That’s an area where we missed AJ tonight. When I have him and Levi both in there we can withstand that better, so it hurt not having AJ in there. I thought the guards did enough helping down in the post enough to get the win.
The Eagles will look to add another conference W’ to their 9-9 record when they tip off against cross-town rival Edgerton Friday night at the public school. The Eagles will then turn their attention to a non-conference tilt with the Worthington Trojans on Saturday.
“We have two big games at the end of the week,
 

 

Edgerton Friday and then to Worthington on Saturday, so we have to be ready,” Pap said. “It’ll be a good fight with Edgerton, they’re always ready for us. Will be looking to sharpening everything up a bit, fine tune things and keep shooting the ball well especially the 3s.”

SWC 47 29 76
Adrian 30 37 67

Edgerton 60, Ellsworth 47
The Flying Dutchmen picked up a solid Red Rock Conference victory over the Panthers Monday night in Ellsworth, but needed a strong second-half performance to do so.
Mason Sluis’ 24 points, combined with frenzied defensive ball pressure, gave Edgerton the means to break open a 29-28 halftime score and pull away for the win.
Luke Drooger (four assists) added 17 points and pulled down eight rebounds, while Dayne Niemeyer finished with 10 markers and four steals.
The Dutchmen will host crosstown rival Southwest Christian in a conference tilt Friday at the public school.

Edgerton 28 32 60
Ellsworth 29 18 47

R-T-R 73, Fulda 62
The Knights upped their season record to 15-6 with a non-conference victory over the Raiders Saturday afternoon at SMSU in Marshall.
The Knights had a quartet of double-digit scorers etch their names in the book, as Garrett Kern and Wyatt Kirk finished with 15 and 14 points, respectively, while Westin Kirk and Carter Hansen added 11 and 10 points to R-T-R’s total.
ooper Hansen (six assists) and Westin Kirk led the team in rebounds with four apiece, and Kern and Kaleb Larson finished with three apiece. Dain LaRock and Wyatt Kirk had three assists apiece.
R-T-R will travel to Minneota Friday night to square off against the Vikings in a Camden Conference tilt.