What started off as a promising start for Northeast Nodaway's boys turned into a layup drill for CFX in the District Semifinal game between the two teams Wednesday night. Northeast had two competitive losses to the Hornets earlier in the year; frequently, between two evenly-matched teams, the third time is a charm. But this time, Northeast failed to build on its promising start as CFX went off to the races in the second half and turned a close game into a rout.
CFX got off to the quick early start as Jacob Beck went off on Northeast, scoring the first six points for the Hornets to make it 6-2 as Northeast could only manage a transition basket from Bryce Farnan. Bobby Welch got a steal for Northeast, but then things threatened to get worse as Jordan Showalter got behind the Northeast defense, Colby Wiederholt picked up his second foul, and then Kevin Dodson, who had burned Northeast from behind the arc, got loose on the offensive boards to make it 10-4 at the 4:51 mark.
But then Northeast, with Wiederholt on the bench, turned the tables to take the lead as they were able to get to the glass themselves. Bryce Farnan got a putback, Chad Messner worked a high-low with Farnan inside, Aaron Patton got a putback, Messner found James Burns inside, and then Bryce Farnan got a putback to complete a 10-0 run that left Northeast up 14-10 after one quarter. Little did they know that this would be half of the points that they would score on the night.
Things were looking good for Northeast at that point as they had done it without Wiederholt, but Showalter got a steal for the Hornets and Dodson got a drive down the left side to tie it right back up as CFX went from a man to man to their zone. Bryce Farnan hit a free throw to put Northeast back up 15-14, but then Northeast's perimeter defense let them down again as Dodson, who had torched Northeast with five 3-pointers in the previous meeting between the two teams, hit one on consecutive possessions to put CFX up for good at 20-15. Showalter added a steal to make it 22-15 as Northeast was constantly dribbling into the traps instead of passing to beat the press. Colby Wiederholt found Bryce Farnan inside with 4:21 left and there was a four-minute scoring lull. But then Northeast let Dodson loose underneath and he hit a layup at the buzzer for CFX to make it 24-17.
Northeast's third quarter woes came back to bite them one too many times as Dodson had a fake and drive to start the Hornets off. Jordan Showalter added a 3-point play off a fast break and then Northeast left Dodson open from downtown for the third time of the game to make it 32-17.
The Bluejays switched to a press of their own and it worked initially as they made a comeback bid during the middle of the 3rd. James Burns found Tyler Davis open on the right wing for a 3-pointer, and then Burns added a putback to make it 32-22. Jordan Sipes scored from inside for CFX, but then Colby Wiederholt scored a layup and Aaron Patton had a free throw off steals on consecutive possessions as Northeast got the lead back under double digits at 34-25 with 3:04 left.
But then Northeast passed up a chance to cut it to 6 or 7 as Beck got a steal to start what would turn out to be a 23-3 run by CFX to end the game. The rest of the quarter was a layup drill for CFX as they pushed the lead back up to 16 before Bobby Welch found James Burns open inside at the end of the third to make it 41-27 after three.
Northeast went to their five-guard lineup to try and generate some quick scores to get them back in the game, but the layup drill continued for CFX, who got layups from Jordan Showalter, Spencer Barnes, and consecutive layups from Dodson to make it 50-27 before Northeast threw in the towel and began subbing freely at that point.
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