Mustang Boys Avenge Trojan Loss

North Nodaway’s boys, after winning handily at home 60-26 against Osborn, were bound and determined to avenge their tournament loss to Nodaway-Holt, in which Augustus Hoepker was fouled at the buzzer and missed one out of three free throws as North Nodaway fell 45-44. They jumped out to a 9-0 lead, extended it to 13, and then weathered a Trojan storm to come away with a 45-41 win Friday night. The girls’ job was much easier – after beating Osborn, they picked up a forfeit as Nodaway-Holt didn’t have enough players as only four showed up to school that day.
Peyton Coleman got loose early as he hit a 3-pointer from the left wing and scored off a drive and a transition bucked; he assisted on another as he hit Arron Coleman backdoor and he converted it to two free throws as North Nodaway led 9-0.

Despite Nodaway-Holt skipper Kevin Dodson and a good portion of the Trojan fans screaming at the Trojan players to get it into Logan Zimmerman, much taller than any of the Mustang players, North Nodaway made it stand up despite a six minute scoring drought that extended into the second quarter. One critical miscue happened for Nodaway-Holt happened on the administrative end as the scorekeeper erroneously gave North Nodaway player Cole Bird a free throw even though it went astray and nobody caught it in time. That was the only other tally that North Nodaway had until the second as the Trojans cut it to 10-4 after one.

Finally, Peyton Coleman went coast to coast for a 3-pointer and Augustus Hoepker saved one to Dakota Smyser to make it 15-4. Brody Day’s triple cut it to 17-9, but Dakota hit a 3-pointer with a defender in his face and Peyton Coleman took on Zimmerman and got on the line to make it 22-9 with 3:46 left in the half.

A jumped pass for Zimmerman and a drive and pullup for Coleman was the only other scoring for the next few minutes until finally, Nodaway-Holt, which always seems to play better when behind, started clicking early in the third while North Nodaway started throwing the ball away. Coach Jake Shipman burned two timeouts to no avail as the lead all but disappeared, down to 24-22 with 4:23 left in the third. Coleman connected with a drive with 4:11 left, but Kaiden Vance’s triple finally put Nodaway-Holt up for the first time at 27-26. Cole Bird’s putback made it 28-27, but then Vance got loose behind the Mustang defense to put his team back up 29-28 after three.

Peyton Coleman got going again for North Nodaway, faking a drive and then stepping back for a triple to put North Nodaway back in front to start the scoring in the fourth 31-29. Brody Day’s follow tied it, but Cole Bird got a putback with 6:40 left, sending Day to the bench with foul fouls in the process and converting a 3-point play to make it 34-31. Tucker Schwebach’s drive made it 34-33, but Peyton Coleman countered with another step-back triple to make it 37-33 with 5:12 left. But then Nodaway-Holt finally got it into Zimmerman and Schwebach added a steal to tie it up again at 37.

But then Dakota Smyser worked the high low to Arron Coleman perfectly to put North Nodaway up 39-37 with 2:45 left, and that lead stood up despite Nodaway-Holt’s best efforts. Cole Bird stuffed the much taller Logan Zimmerman on one possession. On another, Tucker Schwebach was racing down the floor for a possible game-tying layup after Hoepker had missed a 3-pointer that would have given North Nodaway some cushion; however, the much smaller Dakota Smyser stuffed Schwebach from behind to deny the layup try and Cole Bird was there for a huge defensive board.

Finally, Dakota Smyser beat the press as Nodaway-Holt overextended and Peyton Coleman aired out the ball to him. He made one of two free throws with 1:21 left to make it 40-37.

Nodaway-Holt missed a game-tying three-pointer, but Zimmerman was there for the offensive board and he hit one of two to make it 40-38. Once again, the Trojans overextended on their press and Peyton Coleman aired it out to Arron for a layup to make it 42-38 with one minute left. Peyton Coleman stole a pass intended for Zimmerman inside, but he couldn’t convert a one and one with 40.4 seconds left, and James Chesnut was all alone for a 3-pointer with 31.8 seconds left to make it 42-41 as nobody matched up with him.

North Nodaway got it into Augustus Hoepker, and this time he would not be denied at the free throw line as he hit both to make it 44-41 with 30.5 seconds left. Day’s 3-pointer that would have tied it instead hit the overhanging support and Coleman hit one of two from the line to make it 45-41 with 16 seconds left.

Day attempted another triple for the Trojans with time running out, but it missed and North Nodaway got the board after a huge scramble to preserve the win.