Saturday, February 4, 2017

Peyton Coleman Eclipses School Scoring Record with 37 Despite Loss

Peyton Coleman had been coming close to eclipsing the single game scoring record after tying it against Northeast Nodaway earlier this season. Friday, he finally broke it against East Atchison despite his team's 64-58 loss.

Coleman kept his team in the game in the first with six points. But Gage McAdams knocked down two triples for the Wolves, and Garrett Meyer added two driving layups and a backdoor layup as the Wolves took a 16-11 lead after the first quarter and were never headed although North Nodaway tied it once.

Coleman only had six points in the first quarter, but got the hot hand in the second, knocking down a 3-pointer over the much taller Brody Cooper to get going. Just as it looked like East Atchison would pull away behind the hot hand of Cooper to go up 23-16, Coleman headed up, getting two free throws; Cole Bird added a drive off a pass from Arron Coleman to make it 23-20 with 3:08 left in the second half. McAdams connected from the right wing, but Coleman got a putback and added a stepback three over Cooper to tie it up.

Exhausted and tired, he came out for a stretch, only to come back in late and drop yet another 3-pointer over Cooper to make it 31-30 after East Atchison had gone back up by four. But Cooper responded at the buzzer to make it 34-30 at the break. Coleman had scored 15 in the second quarter to bring his total up to 21.

Once again, it looked like East Atchison would take control as Meyer and Jake McEnaney started driving at will, and North Nodaway looked like they would be in trouble, falling behind 44-33. But then Coleman, who had been shut out so far, started getting to the line and hitting free throws, going four for four. Dakota Smyser cleaned up after a Coleman steal and then Coleman hit a triple to bring him up to 28 after three and bring his team to within 46-42. But then Meyer hurt North Nodaway again; he got a putback, had a monster stuff on Coleman, and that set up a breakaway for Cooper to kill North Nodaway's momentum and put East Atchison up 50-42 going into four.

It looked like Coleman would easily get the record; Cooper hit a couple of triples, but Coleman scored a drive and pullup, a pair of free throws, and a backdoor look off a pass from Tyler Bix to bring him up to 34 with five minutes left, plenty of time. But with his team down 56-48 with 4:04 left, as he was driving in for the points that would tie the school record, he suddenly crumpled up on the floor as he rolled his ankle and had to come out. Cole Bird scored off a Dakota Smyser steal to make it 56-50, but then East Atchison went back up 60-50 with 2:50 left as Coleman sat and a long stretch went by without any whistles to stop the clock.

Coleman finally came back in; he was still favoring the ankle, but he shared the ball, getting Arron Coleman on a backdoor look that he turned into a free throw and whipping another pass to Dakota Smyser in the corner for a 3-pointer with 1:42 left to make it 60-54. Coleman got up to 35 with a free throw with 1:11 left and make it 60-55 after Jake McEnaney threw one away.

But then North Nodaway had to start fouling and Garrett Meyer's free throw somehow rolled in to make it 61-55 with 42 seconds left. Dakota Smyser missed a drive attempt, but Cooper missed a 1-1 to give North Nodaway the ball back. Coleman finally broke the school record as he hit a pullup over an orange shirt with 22 seconds left to go over the top, making it 61-57. But North Nodaway couldn't get any closer as Meyer hit a free throw, Tyler Bix hit a free throw, and then McAdams hit two free throws with 12 seconds left. North Nodaway missed two 3-pointers at the end.

The girls fell 33-27 to East Atchison in a brutal physical battle in which the officials let everything on both ends go. The Mustangs fell behind 17-7 as East Atchison did a much better job running their trapping defense and North Nodaway could not keep them off the boards. Eight of East Atchison's 17 points in the first half were off second chance looks. North Nodaway fell behind by as much as 23-12 in the third, but then they came back as Madison Thompson had a free throw and added a putback and Kristin Herndon hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to make it 23-18.

The Mustangs got it down to three twice, got a triple from Kristin Herndon to make it 27-25 with 6:39 off a pass from Alisha Davison with 4:39 left, and then Bethany Herndon hit two free throws with 2:57 left to tie it up after getting fouled fighting for a defensive board.

Kilea Cooper missed a 3-pointer, but Jaycee Graves was there for an offensive board and went to the line to break the tie and put them up 28-27. The Wolves got a steal, got it into Kinley Thornill, who backed down Madison Thompson, got the foul call, and hit another one with 2:05 left. Kristin Herndon missed two free throws, Lily Graves hit one on the other end, and North Nodaway couldn't answer as they had a turnover and a missed 3-pointer in their next two possessions. East Atchison ran it down to 22 seconds and then Shelby McCartney hit two free throws to put it out of reach.

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