Bluejays Lock Down Osborn, Advance in Platte Valley Invitational

Northeast Nodaway’s boys played lockdown defense on Osborn in the first round of the Platte Valley Invitational Monday night, getting the 44-23 win. The Tuesday before, they had dropped a 46-44 heartbreaker to Albany. But they responded by turning up the defensive intensity against a much-improved Osborn team, which had dwelt in the cellar the last few seasons, but stands to improve a lot this year.

The Bluejays got 22 tips and 18 steals on defense and only allowed one shot down the court when Osborn did get a shot at the basket, allowing only one offensive board for the game. Osborn led Northeast Nodaway 9-6 early in the second quarter when Samuel Dorton cut inside for a basket. But then Northeast Nodaway’s depth began to tell, as they ran 10 different players in and out, and they could have run in more if they had wanted to. Nine different Bluejays got tips, eight got steals, and twelve different Bluejays got boards.

The momentum swung after Mitchell Sherry got a pair of free throws and Ben Boswell got back to back steals to put the Bluejays in front 13-9. Up to that point, Boswell had struggled, but he got going offensively for the Bluejays, putting up 16 points for the night. Osborn played suffocating defense all night long, forcing 23 Bluejay turnovers. But Northeast was able to use it against them, getting long possessions on offense and forcing them to play defense for long stretches of time. One such possession occurred at the end of the first half, when NEN milked the last two minutes of the clock. There were a couple of broken plays during the sequence, but NEN still hung onto the ball, and finally got the ball to Ben Boswell on the right wing  for three off a kickout from Drew Wiederholt with 5 seconds left to make it 18-11 at the half.

As Osborn went scoreless through an 11 minute stretch in the second and third quarter, Northeast finally got Auston Pride untracked in the second half; the Wildcats were fronting him in the post and stealing any entry passes in the first half, but the Bluejays finally started getting him the ball in the second, and he wound up with 10 points for the night.

The Bluejay lead grew to 25-11 before Osborn, extending their pressure, finally got a steal and a three point play to break their scoring drought to make it 25-14. Northeast turned the ball over several times against the pressure of the orange shirts, but also got some good transition looks as well, getting a transition basket from Pride to end the third, a free throw from Mitchell Sherry to start the fourth, and a triple from Ben Boswell off a kickout pass from Auston pride to make it 31-14.

Osborn, which has nine players listed in the roster, but only dressed out six, put up a valiant effort to stop the bleeding, but saw Braxton Gibson foul out with five minutes left in the game, which opened the floodgates. Lane Dack got a drive to the rim and then hit Ben Boswell for three to make it 40-18. Dylan McIntyre, a freshman, got loose in transition against the orange shirts twice as the third stringers held their own against Osborn’s starters.

For NEN, Ben Boswell had 16 points, Auston Pride 10, Mitchell Sherry 7, Dylan McIntyre 5, Reed McIntyre 4, and Lane Dack 2.

Auston Pride had 2 blocks and Mitchell Sherry 1.

Twelve different Bluejays got rebounds. Auston Pride had 8, Mitchell Sherry 7, Nathan Schieber 4, Drew Wiederholt and Dylan McIntyre 3, Ben Boswell and Reed McIntyre 2, and Lane Dack, Ethan Adwell, Rory Bredlow, Brendon Deardorff, and Colton Swalley 1 each.

Ben Boswell had 3 assists. Mitchell Sherry, Drew Wiederholt, Reed McIntyre, Auston Pride, Rory Bredlow, Lane Dack, and Zach Pride all had 1.

Ben Boswell had 7 tips on defense. Auston Pride had 5, Nathan Schieber 3, Reed McIntyre 2, and Drew Wiederholt, Mitchell Sherry, Rory Bredlow, Boston Adwell, and Zach Pride had 1.

Eight different Bluejays had steals. Mitchell Sherry had 6, Ben Boswell 3, Nathan Schieber, Reed McIntyre and Auston Pride 2, and Rory Bredlow, Dylan McIntyre, and Ethan Adwell 1 each.