Aaron Patton, aka The General, scored 15 points in the first half to lead Northeast Nodaway's boys past Stewartsville 50-42 to claim the consolation of the boys side of the Platte Valley Conference tournament Thursday. Steve Schulte had a career night with 7 points and there were strong performances from several different people as Northeast held off several Stewartsville charges to win the consolation prize.
Snakebit in the first round, the Bluejay boys shook off the rust enough to hold off Union Star in the consolation semifinals to face Stewartsville in the consolation round. In the first quarter, Patton was the one player on either team to get untracked as he got a 3-pointer, a coast to coast drive, and a free throw; Steve Schulte added a baseline shot as Northeast led 8-4 after one quarter.
Northeast had a problem with hacking and fouling in the first half and it came to roost by the start of the second quarter as some of their people sat on the bench with foul trouble and Stewartsville fought back to tie in the first minute of the second quarter and had a chance to take the lead. But then Aaron Patton got a steal and drive and Northeast went ahead for good, although Stewartsville was never far behind. Patton hit another 3-pointer as Northeast led 14-8 at the 4:46 mark of the second quarter. Patton continued to score as he scored off a fast break and then slipped in for another score and Steve Schulte added a steal as Northeast went back up 20-11.
But the hacking and fouling on defense continued and Tyler Schmitz went to the bench with his third foul as Stewartsville used the line to stay within four at 20-16 at the break. The Bluejays were much more effective with him on the floor even though he was not one of the main scorers; he got several rebounds and made a lot of hustle plays while he was in there.
A bizarre play put Northeast up 27-20 as Stewartsville scored in their own basket instead of Northeast's; it was the second straight night that a Northeast opponent scored in the wrong basket. But then Stewartsville banked consecutive 3-pointers to get back to within two at 30-28 before Jason Henggeler hit from the high post to make it 36-30 at the third quarter buzzer.
Northeast played much smarter basketball in the third quarter as Schmitz avoided his fourth foul and they kept Stewartsville off the line for the most part until late in the game. Schmitz was a big factor at the start of the fourth quarter as he hit from the high post and Henggeler added a free throw to make it 41-33 with 4:35 left. But then Stewartsville went to the half court trap, which succeeded in speeding up Northeast into making some bad decisions on offense and they threw the ball away; on the other end, Stewartsville began lobbing the ball into Justin Burris as they cut the lead to 41-37 with 2:36 left. The Cardinals had a chance to cut it to one possession, but Northeast got the stop and Steve Schulte, left open from the left wing, had nothing but net with 1:30 left to put Northeast back up by seven. Coach Chaim Jenkins said that Steve was a very smart basketball player and that he had the green light to take those shots in that situation.
Justin Saunders converted a 3-point play to make it 44-40 and Tyler Schmitz missed from the right wing for Northeast. There was a heartstopping moment that followed as Northeast got the stop on defense, only to have Kevin Stoll tip the ball into the wrong basket as he was trying to grab the ensuing board to make it 44-42. But then he atoned for his miscue on the other end as he hit two free throws with 33 seconds left to make it a two possession game again. Tyler Schmitz then jumped a pass at the half court line perfectly and got a steal and then Steve Schulte came up big on the other end as he knocked the ball out of the hands of a Stewartsville player into the hands of Stoll following a pair of missed free throws by Northeast and Stoll hit two free throws with 16.7 seconds left to make it 48-42. Stewartsville missed on the other end and then Aaron Patton hit two free throws with 3 seconds left to ice it.
"We cut down on our fouls and we kept the guys out on the floor that we needed to keep," said Coach Jenkins after the game. "We're pretty rusty right now, but we have guys who are smart enough that they can beat everything the other teams throw at us."
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