Monday, February 14, 2011

Bluejay Boys Lose by One; Coach Madden Ejected

Northeast Nodaway's boys trailed the whole game against DeKalb and lost by one point, 49-48 as Coach Ryan Madden got his first two technicals of the year and was ejected from the game. Following the ejection, assistant Brent Beuler managed the team along with girls coach Eric Fairchild and the Bluejays came back to make a game of it against a team very similar to the Jefferson team that they lost by 22 to. They had chances in the last minute to win it, but couldn't get anything to drop for them as they dropped the one-point Homecoming loss.

After the game was over, Madden came back and talked about the loss. He wouldn't talk about the officiating, but had plenty to say about his players. "That says something about our kids when they can come back against a really athletic team like DeKalb. Our kids have a lot of heart. I expected them to come back and they expected to come back and I can't say enough about them," he said. With the loss, Madden had to serve an automatic one game suspension under MSHSAA rules and sat out the West Nodaway game Monday.

Kevin Stoll hit a 3-pointer right off the bat for Northeast, but they spent the next four minutes completely out of sync as DeKalb threatened to follow Jefferson's lead and run away with it as they scored the next eight points to make it 8-3; Coach Madden burned two timeouts right off the bat in an effort to stop the bleeding. Derek Brock, whom Northeast didn't have an answer for, got four of their first eight points, But Kevin Stoll did all he could to keep Northeast in the game in the period, getting eight points in the period as well as a blocked shot as Northeast closed back to within 10-9 before Brock hit two free throws to make it 12-9 after one quarter.

The game continued to follow the Jefferson script as Kolby Reagan hit from the right wing to make it 18-12 with 5:13 left. But then Northeast, instead of letting it get to double digits as the game turned into a frantic pace. Bryce Farnan got three putbacks, Kevin Stoll added a free throw, and Colby Wiederholt scored off a steal to tie it at 20. But then Farnan sat out the last two minutes with foul trouble and Northeast didn't have an answer for Brock, who scored five straight points to end the half with DeKalb up 25-20.

Brock continued to carry DeKalb, getting to the line at will to start the second half. Finally, Madden drew his first technical foul from Donnie Ireland protesting a foul call as Brock hit three out of four shots to give his team their biggest lead so far at 32-23. But then Northeast fought back as Colby Wiederholt lobbed it into Bryce Farnan and Bryce Farnan scored again in transition and then aired it out to Dalton Welch to make it 32-29.

Brock picked up his fourth foul and Farnan's free throws kept it at 36-33, but then Brent Bush hit from the baseline and then Northeast missed a shot on the offensive end. During the ensuing scramble, Referee Donnie Ireland called a rare double foul on Dalton Welch and a DeKalb player wrestling for the ensuing rebound and Madden got his second technical foul and was ejected for protesting the call and slamming the bleachers. Timmy Leroy's free throws made it 40-33 after three quarters.

Bryce Farnan picked up his fourth foul at the 5:09 mark, but stayed in as DeKalb could not raise their lead any higher than seven. They gave the ball in to Brock and went at Farnan twice to try and draw his fifth foul and Brock hit twice from the field. But Aaron Patton's 3-pointer with 3:27 suddenly made it a game at 47-44. Brock made his third straight bucket but then Bryce Farnan kicked it out to Dalton Welch and as DeKalb tried to get it into Brock again, Aaron Patton stripped the ball out of the post. Welch then found Colby Wiederholt to make it 49-48 with 2 minutes left. Brock finally missed one and Northeast had a chance to take the lead.

For the rest of the game, the lid was on the rim. Scott Harvey got a steal, but was fouled and airballed his first free throw and his second was in and out with 1:04 left. Northeast tried to lob it into Farnan, but Reagan leaped really high in the air to knock it out and it was stolen with 32.8 seconds left and Brent Bush went to the line with 31.1 seconds left. Both of Bush's free throws were in and out and Farnan got the defensive board and Northeast had a chance to win. After calling timeout, Kevin Stoll missed a 12-footer and a putback try and Bryce Farnan got an offensive board and was fouled with 0.7 seconds left with a chance for a 1-1. But Farnan missed the free throw long and DeKalb got the one point win.

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