Saturday, January 4, 2020

Bad Second Quarter Dooms Mustangs Against Stewartsville

North Nodaway had a bad second quarter against Stewartsville and lost an early lead, falling to the Cards 55-49 Friday. They outscored the Cardinals in every quarter but the second, but the Cardinals hung 27 points in that period to take control of the game. The rest of the game was North Nodaway trying to play catchup against the red shirts and falling just short.

Everything went right for the Mustangs in the early going as they jumped out to a 14-2 lead. Karson Oberhauser hit a 3-pointer, Austin Bird had a putback and a three-pointer, Tyler Bix scored twice slashing to the basket, and Wyatt O'Riley hit a shot from the top of the key just inside the three point arc.

But then the Cardinals closed to within 16-9 at the end of the first quarter and then went into a frenzy in the second. They were swarming and pressing the Mustangs, their fans were screaming like crazy, and they were burying threes right and left. North Nodaway panicked, throwing the ball away right and left against the press, fueling the run. When the dust had settled, the Cardinals had erased North Nodaway's early lead and took a 36-28 halftime lead.

North Nodaway settled down coming out of the halftime break and Tyler Bix put the team on his back, scoring ten points in the period, bringing his team to within 40-38. But then Stewartsville answered by scoring the last five points to go up 45-38. With the red shirts continuing to swarm and press, the Mustangs were on the ropes and the Cards scored two unguarded threes to start the fourth and go up 51-38.

But then Austin Bird got to the rim and drew a foul, and one of the Stewartsville fans got thrown out protesting the call. The incident seemed to spark the Mustangs, and Bird converted his free throws to break the run. Ryan Riley followed up with another three to get it under double digits at 51-43. Doran Saunders broke the run for Stewartsville with a pullup shot to make it 53-43, but Wyatt O'Riley hit two free throws and then Karson Oberhauser got a putback to make it 53-47 with 2:27 left. He drew the foul and missed the free throw, but Tyler Bix got a putback to make it 53-49. But then Tyler Haskell hit from the left wing, and North Nodaway could get no closer in the closing minutes.

Tyler Bix had 16 for the Mustangs. Karson Oberhauser and Ryan Riley had 9 each. Austin Bird had 7. Wyatt O'Riley and Andrew Blackford had 4 points each.

Karson Oberhauser and Ryan Riley had 1 block each.

Rebounding kept the Mustangs in the game, as they had 43 for the night. Tyler Bix had 14 boards. Karson Oberhauser had 10, Austin Bird, Andrew Blackford, and Ryan Riley all had 6. Wyatt O'Riley had 1.

Karson Oberhauser and Austin Bird had 4 assists each. Karson Oberhauser and Ryan Riley each had 3 steals each.

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