NEN Boys Secure Third Place at Platte Valley Invitational; Turn Back Rocket Challenge

Northeast Nodaway turned back a challenge from a dangerous West Nodaway squad that will do a lot of damage in years to come as they won third place at the Platte Valley Invitational with the 62-50 win. The Rockets have one of the leading scorers in the area in Tyler Blay, and have added firepower this year in Hunter Dawson and Dawson Fast. West Nodaway will have everybody back next year.

But Northeast Nodaway’s discipline and depth paid off in the end, as they broke open a close game in the third quarter and kept the game under control the rest of the way.

Ben Boswell picked up his second foul right off the bat for Northeast, but the rest of the squad held the fort and fought West Nodaway to a 9-9 draw after one.

With Boswell back in, he knocked down a triple to spark the Bluejays and they pushed ahead to a 19-14 lead on Mitchell Sherry’s triple. But back to back jacks by Dawson Fast and Hunter Dawson put West Nodaway ahead again 21-20 with 3:22 left.

Mitchell Sherry countered with a triple and a steal, forcing West Nodaway into a timeout. Ben Boswell had a three point play off a steal and Drew Wiederholt scored off a drive to put the Bluejays up 29-22 before Blay and Grant Adkins hit free throws to cut it to 29-26 at the break.

Auston Pride, who had been held to four in the first half, went off in the second, scoring 16 of his 20 points for the game. He had eight in the third as Northeast started the third quarter with a 14-2 run to go up 43-26. Ben Boswell added a steal, Reed McIntyre got a fast break off an Auston Pride block and Ben Boswell push, and Pride scored six points during the run. NEN put on a clinic in offensive execution and ran their plays as well as they had all year, something Coach Rory Jackson had been harping on all year.

Hunter Dawson hit all three of his free throws on a three shot foul to kill the run, and a West Nodaway press and a switch to man to man stymied the Bluejays for the rest of the quarter as the Rockets closed to within 45-35. But then Mitchell Sherry scored off a backdoor look and Auston Pride worked the inside for six more points as Northeast Nodaway got untracked again and scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter.

West Nodaway put on the press again and Dawson Fast hit a pair of free throws and Tyler Blay, who had been held in check all night, finally got untracked with a transition basket and a guarded three to bring the Rockets back to within 57-45 with 1:57 left. But then Hunter Dawson picked up his fifth foul and Ben Boswell hit both free throws with 1:06 left to make it 59-45.

Tyler Blay hit another guarded three to make it 59-48, and Ben Boswell missed the front end of a 1-1 to give the Rockets a chance to get under double digits, but Dawson Fast traveled, Ben Boswell made one out of two, NEN got a stop, and Boswell hit two more to clinch it.

Auston Pride had 20, Mitchell Sherry 17, Ben Boswell 13, Reed McIntyre 6, and Nate Schieber, Dylan McIntyre, and Drew Wiederholt all had 2.