Bryce Farnan gets 24; Bluejays Come Back vs. Rockets

Northeast Nodaway's boys came from 14 down to beat West Nodaway 58-54 in the opening round of districts Monday night as they advanced to the second round to face Jefferson tonight. They fell behind thanks to a torrid offensive explosion from the Rockets but they took advantage of their foul trouble in the third and fourth quarters to come back and win. Coach Ryan Madden said that he gave the game ball to Kevin Stoll despite only getting five points. "He got the game ball because he was the first player all year to dive headfirst on the floor after a loose ball," he said. "He got us all going again." Madden said that in the lockerroom at halftime, the players were talking about not losing. "We can't use the l-word in the lockerroom; we have to play to win," he said. "There's a big difference." Madden said that he did nothing special and that it was the players who decided to take charge and do what needed to be done. "We were a lot more active in the second half and when that happened, West Nodaway made a lot more mistakes."

West Nodaway began by getting the ball into Heath Harris at will as Northeast was getting hung up on screens, creating a bunch of mismatches down low. Harris scored the first five points of the game as the Rockets took the early 5-2 lead. Northeast kept up for a few minutes as Bryce Farnan got a putback against two defenders, Colby Wiederholt scored from inside, and Aaron Patton scored from the top of the key over a screen to make it 10-8 with 3:20 left. But Harris' burst inside opened everything else up and Brent Barnett hit an NBA 3-pointer and Harris scored his 7th point of the period inside to make it 15-8.

Things continued to get from bad to worse as Colby Wiederholt got called for a foul even though he had perfect position on an offensive board and was straight up; that was his second foul and he had to sit down. That led to Kolby Marriott's 3-pointer that made it 20-11 after one quarter. Northeast was not helping themselves offensively as they were throwing away some long passes that were not there and taking some bad shots instead of running their offense. Consequently, Harris continued to dominate the paint for West Nodaway as they built up a 26-13 lead with 2:45 left in the first half. Colby Wiederholt scored from inside, but then Brent Barnett hit his third 3-pointer of the half to make it 29-15. Northeast finally got going right before the half as Aaron Patton hit a free throw and then got a steal and drive off the press to make it 31-20 at the break.

Northeast settled down on the offensive end and began throwing it into Bryce Farnan and Harris picked up his third and fourth fouls trying to guard Farnan as Bryce hit an inside shot from Aaron Patton, got a pair of free throws, and got a putback to make it 36-26. But nothing changed as far as the score was concerned as West Nodaway began working the offensive glass at will, getting a putback from Landon Wood as well as free throws from Brandon Whittington and Sage Jones to make it 41-28 again as Bryce Farnan picked up his fourth foul.

But Northeast finally going going again as Aaron Patton got a drive and pullup with 2:10 left in the third. Kevin Stoll followed with a steal to get it under double digits again and then Aaron Patton lobbed it into Farnan. Kevin Stoll then got another steal and Colby Wiederholt missed a layup but Stoll was there to clean up to make it 41-37 with 47.8 seconds left. Northeast had scored nine points in the last minute and a half to make up the difference. Bryce Farnan then picked up his fourth foul and sat down as Landon Wood's inside shot made it 43-37 after three quarters.

But West Nodaway could not take advantage of the absence of Farnan as Heath Harris fouled out right off the bat going after a loose ball. Despite Farnan's absence, Northeast hung around as Aaron Patton scored off a drive and Colby Wiederholt hit a pair of free throws to keep it at foul. Farnan came back in with just under six minutes left and Colby Wiederholt scored off a fast break and Kevin Stoll found Bryce Farnan inside to make it 47-45 with 4:59 left. Northeast got the ball back with a chance to tie, but could not convert as the Rocket players were doing some blatant reaching in on Kevin Stoll with no call from the officials. Then, the referee gave the ball back to West Nodaway even though the ball clearly went off a Rocket player after a loose ball scramble. But the Rockets could not take advantage of the gift from the officials as Brandon Whittington missed two free throws; Colby Wiederholt's two free throws with 4:15 left finally tied it up at 47.

Kolby Marriott hit two free throws to make it 49-47, but Bryce Farnan scored from inside to tie it up again. Dalton Welch picked up his fifth foul as he ran into a screen, but Sage Jones could only hit one out of two free throws. Aaron Patton then lobbed it into Bryce Farnan as he did all second half and Farnan scored again to make it 51-50 with 3:24 left. West Nodaway missed an inside shot and Jason Henggeler fouled scrambling for the rebound, but Sage Jones missed both free throws as Northeast stayed ahead by one. Aaron Patton missed a wide open layup, but Landon Wood traveled on a drive and Bryce Farnan hit one out of two after being fouled in the post as West Nodaway was trying to strip the ball from him in the post.

Jason Henggeler fouled again as he was trying to reach in the post and Landon Wood hit one out of two free throws to make it 52-51 with 2:10 left. Northeast got the ball to Farnan in the post again, West Nodaway tried to surround him and strip him of the ball, but Farnan hit a cutting Colby Wiederholt for a layup as Colby finally got one to go down after missing a ton earlier in the game to make it 54-51 with 1:54 left. Sage Jones missed a 3-pointer that would have tied it up, but Colby Wiederholt lost the ball in the post and Brandon Whittington hit a free throw with 1:20 left to make it 54-52. Jason Henggeler traveled with one minute left and West Nodaway had a chance to tie or take the lead but Landon Wood's heavily contested runner was altered by Bryce Farnan and Colby Wiederholt hit what turned out to be the dagger as his fast break made it 56-52 with 39 seconds left. Sage Jones' 3-pointer was in and out and Bryce Farnan hit one out of two free throws to make it 57-52 with 30 seconds left. Brent Barnett, who had torched Northeast in the first half, tried to bank a 3-pointer but missed and Jason Henggeler was fouled with 17 seconds left. He missed both free throws, but Bryce Farnan grabbed the offensive board and his pass to Colby Wiederholt was tipped around until Colby was fouled with 9.4 seconds left. Colby made one out of two to make it 58-52 and Landon Wood hit a meaningless layup with 2.1 seconds left.