Monday, February 5, 2018

Austin Bird Swipes Seven, Mustang Boys Win 6th

North Nodaway’s boys have been searching for consistency all year. They have held their own in regular season games, only to struggle in tournament games. They beat South Nodaway in the conference game, only to dig themselves into a hole against them in the Northwest Missouri Tournament that they couldn’t get out of. They lost narrowly to Rock Port at home, only to get shredded by them in Fairfax.

Last week, they struggled against Jefferson’s physical play and fell 52-24. Things seemed ready to spiral into a hole, only for the Mustangs to play one of their best games of the year before losing 62-56 to East Atchison, who was runner-up at Burlington Junction only to Worth County.

Osborn came into the game winless, having lost twice to Union Star and having scored only eight points in one game against South Nodaway in another game. They came in scoring an average of 28 points a game and giving up an average of 56 points; North Nodaway topped both those averages, getting the 60-23 win Monday. Osborn has eight players out on their boys squad, seven of them are sophomores and one is a junior.

After having played two tough opponents last week, it took North Nodaway five minutes to realize they were the better basketball team, as they trailed 4-2 after two drives from Dalton Martin. But a three point play from Cody Wood seemed to open the floodgates; they scored 14 points in the final 3:08 to open up a 16-4 lead after one. Austin Bird played his best game as a Mustang; he got four of his seven steals in the first quarter to jumpstart his team; most were during that final 3:08 sequence. He scored two layups off his and added a 3-pointer for seven in the period. Arron Coleman got a putback and Wood got a steal and layup at the buzzer.

The pleasant surprise for North Nodaway was the bench; Karson Oberhauser and Ryan Riley both came off the bench to score six in the second as they pushed their margin over 20. They continued to pull away in the third to lead 52-20 as Tyler Bix came alive with five in the frame and the team struck for four threes.

Austin Bird posted a career high, getting 14 points to lead the scoring. Ryan Riley had 12, all on threes. Arron Coleman and Karson Oberhauser had 9, the latter being a career high. Tyler Bix had 7, Cody Wood 5, and Cole Bird and Lucas Alvarez 2 each.

Arron Coleman had 2 blocks, while Cole Bird and Ryan Riley had 1 each.

Eight different Mustangs got boards. Arron Coleman and Ryan Riley had 5 each. Karson Oberhauser had 4, Cole Bird and Tyler Bix had 3 each, Wyatt O’Riley 2, and Cody Wood and Logan Keho 1 each.

Karson Oberhauser had 3 assists for North Nodaway. Cody Wood, Tyler Bix, and Wyatt O’Riley had 2, while Arron Coleman and Ryan Riley had 1.

Cole Bird had 4 tips for the Mustangs. Karson Oberhauser had 3, Austin Bird, Arron Coleman, and Ryan Riley had 2, and Andrew Blackford, Lucas Alvarez, and Tyler Bix had 1.

Austin Bird had 7 steals. Cole Bird had 3, Cody Wood, Tyler Bix, and Arron Coleman had 2 each, and Karson Oberhauser, Ryan Riley, Logan Keho, and Lucas Alvarez had 1 each; Alvarez’s steal led to a layup from him at the final buzzer. As a team, North Nodaway had 20 steals, well over their normal output for the year.

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