Boone Central/Newman Grove again had a devil of a time with Mid-State Conference foe Wayne Saturday in Albion.
The Blue Devils, who had defeated BC/NG in the championship game of the Great NEN Shootout holiday tournament, built a 22-9 halftime lead over the host Cardinals and left town with a 52-38 victory that dropped BC/NG to 8-4.
Boone Central/Newman Grove scored just a lone field goal in the second quarter – and only three in the entire first half – as Wayne took control behind senior Ben Hoskins, who scored 11 first-half points and hit a 3-point shot just prior to the halftime buzzer.
The Cardinals gave a much better effort following intermission and, after trailing 36-21 in the third period, trimmed Wayne’s lead to six points in the final minutes. Hoskins’ 10 fourth-quarter points kept the Blue Devils in front, however, and Jared Anderson twice broke free behind BC/NG pressure, helping secure the win with a field goal and free throw.
“The second quarter was just a disaster on offense – as was the entire first half, really. We made only three baskets in the half and this will not cut it against any team we will be playing. We had plenty of scoring opportunities inside the entire game and were not able to finish when we needed to. We must be able to do this when we get the ball close to the hoop,” commented BC/NG Coach Dan Zoucha. “Our defensive effort was not bad, but we allowed some easy drives to the hoop that, in a game like this one, we cannot allow. Our second half was even with Wayne, but we could not recover from the hole we had dug ourselves in the first half.”
Boone Central/Newman Grove tipped off its weekend in good fashion Friday with a 69-55 conference victory at O’Neill.
After a bit of a sluggish start, the Cardinals used a 24-9 blitz in the second period to establish control, with Hedlund hitting a pair of 3-pointers and scoring eight points.
“Our goal was to start this game with a purpose. We could tell by the end of the first quarter that we had not played a competitive game for a while,” Zoucha said. “After the first period, however, we played with a lot of energy.
“Our press caused O’Neill some problems and we were able to convert off turnovers. We felt as though our offense had some rhythm and we looked at ease shooting.
“We took care of the ball and were able to push the ball up the floor,” he added. “Overall, we had good efforts on both ends of the floor.”
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