Monday, February 21, 2011

Bluejay Boys Run Away from Ice Cold Trojans

Northeast Nodaway's boys used a 22-1 third quarter to run away from an ice cold Nodaway-Holt squad and win 70-50 Monday night. The Bluejays fell behind thanks to a torrid showing from Nodaway-Holt early, but then did a better job of pushing the ball up and down the floor in the second half as well as stopping 3-point shooter Zach Lemar. Nodaway-Holt tried a box and one to try and slow down Colby Wiederholt, but Colby still had 20 points for the night. Northeast showed that they had much more than Colby as Bryce Farnan had 22 points and 15 boards and Kevin Stoll had 13 and collected a ton of steals and outhustled everyone to the ball in that period.

Northeast fell behind 4-0 early as they struggled to solve the box and one and Josh Schafer and Blake Shamberger connected for the Trojans. Finally, Northeast began connecting as Colby hit Bryce Farnan inside and then Bryce found Colby open on the left wing. Aaron Patton then hit Dalton Welch on the left baseline to make it 6-4. Nick Patterson hit a 3-pointer for Nodaway-Holt to make it 9-7 with 4:02 left, but Dalton Welch hit from the right side, Aaron Patton found Kevin Stoll open from the right side for a 3-pointer, and then Bryce Farnan scored from inside to make it 14-9.

But then Northeast began struggling defensively as nobody was guarding the Trojan shooters; Derek Lemon hit one 3-pointer and then Zach Lemar hit three all in a 1:07 span to put Nodaway-Holt up 21-16 after one quarter.

Nodaway-Holt led by as much as 23-16 but then Bryce Farnan hit two free throws, Kevin Stoll hit a 3-pointer from the left wing, and then Colby Wiederholt tied it with a putback. Two free throws from Nodaway-Holt made it 25-23, but then Bryce Farnan got a putback and then Kevin Stoll hit Aaron Patton on the right wing to make it 28-25 with 3:21 left. But then Nodaway-Holt began working the boards and getting points as they fought back to lead 31-30 at the break.

Coach Ryan Madden said that he made one adjustment -- putting Colby Wiederholt in the middle against the box and one; he said that the rest was all done by the players. Nobody could have foreseen the outcome of the third quarter; for the first three minutes, Bryce Farnan's inside shot and a pair of free throws from Colby that made it 34-31 were the only points in the period. Both teams were trying to take control of the game from downtown and putting up quick 3-pointers, but finally Bryce Farnan got a 3rd-chance putback with 4:55 left that seemed to break the dam. Nodaway-Holt threw up a quick shot and missed as Kevin Stoll got a tip-in in transition on the other end. From there, Kevin Stoll was all over the court on defense, stealing everything in sight and running up and down the floor.

Kevin saved a ball from going out of bounds to Colby to make it 40-33 after a Nodaway-Holt player dribbled it off his foot. Bryce Farnan then hit Colby inside and then Kevin Stoll hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 45-31. Aaron Patton then scored off a fast break to make it 47-31 with 2:21 left. Bryce Farnan picked up his third foul and Shamberger hit a free throw with 2:11 left, but even Farnan on the bench did not stop the run as Kevin Stoll hit a pair of free throws, Colby Wiederholt hit another, and then added a steal to make it 52-32 after three quarters.

Everyone may have remembered the game from last year in which Nodaway-Holt nearly erased a 30-point Northeast lead in the fourth quarter behind a flurry of 3-pointers but the Trojan coach had seen enough from his starters and benched them and put five new people in. The Nodaway-Holt reserves put up a credible fight as Kurt Shephard hit a 3-pointer for Nodaway-Holt to open the scoring. But Northeast continued to pull away as Colby Wiederholt stripped the outlet following a miss and put in a layup and then Bryce Farnan started rebounding at will as he would not let Nodaway-Holt do what they did last year; he would score the next eight points. He got a pair of putbacks, a layup off a long outlet from Colby, and a pair of free throws before Coach Ryan Madden began subbing his JV. Sage DeLong hit a 3-pointer for Northeast and Colby Wiederholt scored from inside and added a putback in transition as Northeast's largest lead was 70-42 with 2:31 left.

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