Longtime Boone Central basketball assistant Dan Zoucha won his debut as the program’s head coach as the Cardinals pulled away from host Hartington Cedar Catholic in the second half Friday, Dec. 5, and posted a 67-49 victory.
Unfortunately, BC couldn’t match that offensive output the following night and dropped its home opener to Columbus Lakeview by a 53-44 count.
While pleased with his team’s overall effort on the first weekend of the 2008-09 season, Zoucha knows his young roster will need time to reach its peak.
“Playing back-to-back for the first time can be a tough task, especially for a number of players getting their first opportunity to do so in varsity action,” Zoucha commented. “We have stressed to them that we will take this season one game at a time and continue to build and improve with each game, and this is what we will do.”
Boone Central built on a solid start and played better and better as the game progressed in a 67-44 Mid-State Conference win at Hartington CC Friday.
“Our overall effort and execution was pretty good for the first game of the year,” said Zoucha. “The kids were definitely ready to get a game under their belts after 17 hard practices.”
Ryan Shotkoski led scoring with 25 points and Kalvin Zoucha added 18. Zoucha pulled down 13 rebounds and Shotkoski had five assists.
The Lakeview Vikings were able to get an edge on Boone Central with a strong second quarter Saturday and the host Cards came up short in second-half rally attempts to fall 53-44.
“Lakeview did a good job with its press and, while it never created a large number of turnovers, it prevented us from getting smoothly into our half-court offense and doing some of the things we thought we could do,” Zoucha commented. “We did not get into a rhythm and this will happen with an inexperienced team. It was never a lack of effort. We felt we played hard. We will just need to play smarter and work the ball more effectively.”
Shotkoski (19) and Zoucha (15) led BC scoring. Zoucha also grabbed 11 rebounds and Shotkoski delivered four assists.
Complete Details in Print Edition of Albion News.
