Boone Central/Newman Grove was unable to topple Class C1 #1 Scotus on the road Thursday, but bounced back with a homecourt win over Ord Friday to keep its record above the .500 mark (8-6).
The Cardinals knew they had a tough challenge traveling to play the top-rated C1 team in the state Thursday and the Shamrocks showed why they have earned that distinction with a 67-54 victory.
With senior all-state candidate Grant Lahm sinking a trio of three-point field goals and scoring 14 points, Scotus bolted to a 24-14 first-quarter lead. The Cardinals slowed the hosts in period two, but Scotus still held an 11-point halftime cushion.
“The emphasis preparing for Scotus was concentrating on playing tough defense, rebounding with desire, and just letting ourselves play,” said BC/NG Coach Dan Zoucha. “We had a good start offensively. We were able to push the ball and not let Scotus set up its press. Our defense was not as solid as we would have liked to start the game.
“Our second and third quarters were two of the best of the year. Scotus shifted to a zone in the second and we hit three three-pointers to get them out of it. We got within two late in the third and had some momentum. We took care of the ball extremely well through three quarters.”
The good things didn’t last, however. Scotus took advantage of several Card turnovers in the final stanza and Lahm broke loose again, scoring 15 of the Shamrocks’ 18 points.
One thing the Cardinals have shown this season is resiliency. For the second week in a row, BC/NG bounced back from a loss to win, this time topping Ord 51-45 in Albion.
Although they were unable to pull away from the visitors by any large margin, the Cards used a consistent effort to lead the majority of the contest, then rode Garrett Temme’s eight fourth-quarter points to hold off a late Chanticleer rally.
“The challenge we gave the team after Scotus was how we would play against Ord after an emotional game the night before,” Zoucha said. “We came out with a lot of desire and focused on doing what we needed to the entire game.
“We needed to pound the ball inside and that is what we did. That opened things up a little. We had moments in the game where we tried to do too much, but defensively were able to keep Ord in check. The game got a little tight in the end, but we did make the foul shots to help secure the victory.”
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