By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com
LITTLE RIVER – Thanks to a late game rally the Little River boys managed to out dual Canton/Galva at home on Friday and score an 11-point, 47-36 victory.
After the Redskins took a razor slim one-point, 11-10 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Eagles came back to take a two-point, 20-18, advantage as the two teams headed to the locker rooms for the halftime break.
Coming out of the intermission, the Eagles put a couple of more points on their lead and were up 34-30 at the end of the third quarter before the wheels came off and the Eagles scored just two points in the final eight minutes of play while the Redskins poured 17 points into the scorebook to take the final 11-point win.
“Defensive energy and intensity were huge in the second half,” explained Redskin head coach Erik Base. “We gave up too many wide-open shots that Canton/Galva capitalized on. We did have and advantage in turnovers with just six compared to their 13, five of which we forced in the fourth quarter. Very proud of the way this group continues to battle and work for each other.”
On the other bench, Eagle head coach Larry O’Connor pointed out, “I was proud of the energy we played with tonight. Going into a very tough place to play against a very well coached and talented team that we led most of the game.”
Braxton Lafferty was the lone Redskin to reach double digits scoring as he led the team with 15 points while both Dalton Mantz and Allen Burrola just missed with nine points each.
Lafferty came close to a double double for the evening as he also grabbed eight rebounds while making five steals on defense.
The win gives Little River a 10-4 mark for the season so far as they ready to travel to Centre on Tuesday before returning home next Friday to battle with Elyria Christian.
For the Eagles, Christian Darrah was most of the offense as he led the game in scoring with 23 points, 12 of which came on three-pointers. While six other Eagles scored, none had more than three points.
Coach O’Connor concluded his post-game reflections by adding, “We had to install a new offense with the season ending loss of Tyson (Struber) and played a 3-2 zone which we normally do not play. But the guys played their tails off but just did not make enough shots in the last minutes to pull off the win. Christian (Darrah) played an outstanding game; we just need to find a couple of guys now that can step up and replace some scoring we lose without Tyson. Going to keep getting better with every practice and close the season hopefully playing our best ball yet.”
Now 6-5 for the season, the Eagle will host Solomon on Monday and go on the road to tangle with Rural Vista on Friday next week.
SCORING 1 2 3 4 FINAL
EAGLES 10 10 14 2 36
REDSKINS 11 7 12 17 47
TEAM STATS:
CANTON/GALVA EAGLES = No Team Stats Available.
LITTLE RIVER REDSKINS = FG 14/39 (36%); 3-PTR 4/19 (21%); FT 15/30 (50%); AST 5; REBS 24; TO 6; STLS 5; BLK 4; PF 11.
CANTON/GALVA EAGLES INDIVIDUAL SCORING =
Scoring (36 total points) = Christian Darrah – 23; Jayden Ediger – 3; Lane McMannis – 2; Garrett Maltbie – 2; Wyatt Collins – 2; TJ Koehn – 2; Brayden Doughman – 2.
3-Pointers Made (4) = Darrah – 4.
LITTLE RIVER REDSKINS INDIVIDUAL SCORING/STAT LEADERS =
Scoring (47 total points) = Braxton Lafferty – 15; Dalton Mantz – 9; Allen Burrola – 9; Treyton Olander – 7; Rylan Konen – 4; Logan Renken – 3.
3-Pointers Made (4) = Mantz, Olander, Burrola, Renken – 1.
Assists (5) = Mantz – 4.
Rebounds (24) = Lafferty – 8; Burrola – 5; Olander, Konen – 3.
Steals (5) = Lafferty – 4; Mantz – 1.
Blocked Shots (4) = Konen – 2; Burrola, Renken – 1.