By Staff

            LITTLE RIVER – It was a matchup of two top-ten teams from different divisions on Tuesday at Little River as Moundridge came to town and left with a 23-point, 56-33 win.

            Currently ranked number seven in Class 1A Division I by catchitkansas.com, Little River falls to 3-2 for the season with the loss as they prep to bounce back on Friday when they travel to Wakefield.

Moundridge on the other hand is currently ranked number-two by catchitkansas.com in Class 2A and the win moves their season mark to 4-1 with their only loss being to defending state champion Hillsboro. The Wildcats will be back on the competitive hardwood Friday at Wichita Independent in the Heart of America/Central Plains League challenge.

“The kids played extremely hard,” noted Little River head coach Erik Base. “I am very proud of their efforts as they did the right things that we talked about in winning big-time games.”

Moundridge held a 10-4 advantage by the end of the first quarter before Little River found some offensive traction and chiseled one point off the deficit, making it 25-20 in favor of Moundridge at the halftime break.

“It took us a bit longer to get going tonight than what I wanted,” explained Wildcat head coach Vance Unrau. “We missed some early scoring opportunities and we can not let that affect our confidence and aggressiveness in what we want to do.”

In the second half, the Wildcats had the offense going while Little River struggled to get shots go through the net, giving Moundridge the opportunity to out score the Redskins 31-13 and get the final 21-point victory.

            Braxton Lafferty led Little River with 14 points while Logan Renken chipped in with eight. Lafferty also led the team in both rebounds with five and steals with four while Rylan Konen dished out a team high three assists and Andrew Smith hauled in four rebounds.

            Coach Base finished out his post-game thoughts by stating, “We only turned the ball over six times and only allowed six offensive rebounds. Unfortunately, we only shot the ball at a 27% clip from the field. I believe with only eight practices we do not fully have our legs, causing us to have a meltdown the final 10 minutes. Kudos to coach Unrau of Moundridge as they have a very nice team with multiple weapons.”

            The multiple weapons for the Wildcats led the team in scoring as Barrett Moddelmog used six three-pointers to lead the team in scoring with 18 points while Logan Churchill hit for 11. Landon Kaufman just missed a double-double with nine points to go with 12 assists. Moddelmog and Churchill took care of things under the basket with each grabbing six rebounds, and Alec Huddle took down five.

            Talking about the team and players, Wildcat coach Unrau added, “Little River is very athletic, and their coaches do a nice job of putting guys in places where they can be successful. Although Alec (Huddle) doesn’t get a lot of attention, he is a real blue-collar worker for us. He took advantage of his scoring opportunities and played solid defense while being strong on the boards. Layton (Schmidt) came off the bench and gave us some valuable minutes.

            Concluding his post-game reflections Unrau also mentioned, “We will have our hands full on Friday when we head down to Wichita Independent. They are athletic, play pressure defense and are good shooters. They will want to make the game a track meet. Controlling temp and taking advantage of breaking their press will be keys for us to be successful.”

 MOUNDRIDGE WILDCATS at LITTLE RIVER REDSKINS

SCORING: WILDCATS 10-15-13-18=56; LITTLE RIVER 4-16-8-5=33.

TEAM STATS: WILDCATS > 2-FGs – 12/21; 3-PTs – 8/18; FTs – 8/10; AST – 19; REBs – 27; TO – 8; STLs – 5; BLKs – 4; FLs – 12.  LITTLE RIVER > 2-FGs – 7/26; 3-PTs – 4/15; FTs – 7/13; AST – 8; REBs – 15; TO – 6; STLs – 6; BLKs – 1; FLs – 13.

WILDCAT INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:

Scoring: Barrett Moddelmog – 18; Logan Churchill – 11; Landon Kaufman – 9; Layton Schmidt – 8; Alec Huddle – 6; Henry Hecox – 4.

3-Pointers Made: Moddelmog – 6; Churchill, Kaufman – 1.

Assists: Kaufman – 12; Churchill – 3; Moddelmog – 2.

Rebounds: Moddelmog, Churchill – 6; Huddle – 5; Schmidt – 4; Kaufman, Huddle – 3.

Steals: Kaufman – 2.

Blocked Shots: Churchill – 2.

LITTLE RIVER INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:

Scoring: Braxton Lafferty – 14; Logan Renken – 8; Andrew Smith – 4; Kayston Cox – 3; Treyton Olander – 2; Rylan Konen – 2.

3-Pointers Made: Lafferty, Renken – 2.

Assists: Konen – 3; Cox – 2.

Rebounds: Lafferty – 5; Smith – 4; Cox – 3; Olander – 2.

Steals: Lafferty – 4.

Blocked Shots: Lafferty – 1.

(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)