Jefferson Boys Run Away from NEN Despite Bryce Farnan's 24 points

Northeast Nodaway struggled part of the second quarter and for much of the fourth quarter as they fell to Jefferson 69-47 in a game that knocked them out of first place in the Platte Valley Conference race. There were times when they kept up with the quick, athletic Jefferson team but the Eagles wore them down by the end of the game and won going away.

Colton Holtman opened the scoring for Jefferson with a steal; Norbert Henry followed with another steal. Jacob Stoll got a free throw, followed by a breakaway from Henry to make it 7-0 at the 5:19 mark in the first.

Northeast fought back as Farnan got a steal and ran over a defender and converted it into a 3-point play. Farnan added a putback and then Colby Wiederholt got a pair of free throws and a driving layup to cut Jefferson's lead to 10-9 at the 2:29 mark. But Jefferson went back ahead as Charles Miller got a free throw and a putback and then Clayton Schieber scored from inside. Bryce cut inside off an inbounds play and then Jason Henggeler turned an offensive board into a free throw to cut Jefferson's lead to 15-12. Henggeler, who has been playing strongly of late, earned more playing time both against Jefferson and DeKalb.

While Northeast was able to stay with Jefferson in the first quarter, coach Ryan Madden said that they didn't rotate well on defense in the second, allowing a ton of Jefferson points in the first 3:28 of the second as they took a 26-14 lead at the 4:32 mark. "Bryce Farnan has become a dominant player because he's bought into what we're trying to do," said Coach Ryan Madden. "If we can get others to step up, then we're going to be good for the next few years." Madden said that the problems that the team had were fixable and cited the team's 19 turnovers. "You can't expect to turn the ball over 19 times against a team like Jefferson and expect to win," he said. "If we can take care of the problems that we had between now and districts, it's going to be a close game next time we play."

Following the Jefferson run, Farnan did all he could to get his team back in the game, getting a fast break and then a putback to make it 29-18 with 2:31 left. Kevin Stoll got a putback to keep it at 31-20, but then Norbert Henry hit a 3-pointer to make it 14, their largest lead so far. They led by as much as 39-21 off a Henry putback before Aaron Patton beat the Jefferson press and then Henggeler hit a free throw to make it 39-24 at the break.

Farnan stepped through two defenders to make it 39-26, but then Troy McQuinn's 3-pointer started another Jefferson run that left them up 46-27 with 5:57 left in the third. Northeast fought back as Dalton Welch beat the press and Colby Weiderholt scored off a steal and the later hit a free throw to make it 48-32, but then Bryce Farnan picked up his fourth foul and sat down as free throws from Stoll made it 52-32 after three quarters.

Farnan came back in and scored on consecutive plays from inside to make it 52-36, but then Holtman got a putback following a free throw and then scored from inside to make it 57-36 again. Northeast kept it between 19 and 21 before free throws from Jacob Stoll and a shot from Holtman at the top of the key made it 63-39 with 3:04 left. Miller's bucket with 1:12 left gave Jefferson its largest lead of the night before Bryce Farnan and Aaron Patton scored in the closing seconds to cut it to 22.