North Nodaway’s boys had a good tournament and made a good run for the ultimate prize, but they were in over their heads against St. Joseph Christian, who ran them out of the gym with a 75-51 win to secure the first place trophy. In 2015, North Nodaway’s boys won their first tournament in 50 years with their win over South Nodaway. “That was a fun year,” said then-coach Jake Shipman a few years later. “Hopefully, we won’t have to wait another 50 years.” But the Mustangs will have to wait a little longer even though they have shown a lot of improvement since last year.
The Lions, under Neil Hook, have always been up-tempo. But last year, they completely changed their thinking, and Hook made no secret of what they planned to do – full court press, trap everything, shoot as many threes as possible, and get out and run whenever possible. They were a very young team last year, but they got off to a good start before they ran into a brutal stretch at the end of the season and lost several games in a row at the end of the season. But they return everybody back this year.
The heart and soul of this bunch for the Lions is Nick Orscheln, who hung 25 points on the Mustangs. But Hook has plenty of bodies he can use; he has ten people that he filters in and out throughout the game. And the players and the school are buying in; the Lions have 12 more players waiting in the wings on the junior varsity roster.
Orscheln and the Lions got off to a hot start as he had 13 points in the period and put the Mustangs in a 20-6 hole they could not get out of. The Mustangs were in over their heads and not used to that style of ball; the one Mustang who kept up with the red shirts was Aydan Blackford, who matched a career high with 29 points. He had all six of North Nodaway’s points in the first quarter. When the rest of the cast started chipping in, the Mustangs were able to find their footing, but they were never able to get it under digits.
North Nodaway got as close as 30-19 after Ethan Fry hit two free throws and Aydan Blackford hit an inside shot, but then Christian started making shot after shot with a hand in their face as they pulled back ahead to a 39-23 lead at halftime. The Mustangs needed to start the third quarter strongly if they were to make a game of it, but steals from Cy Carlson and Nick Orscheln and a triple from Johnston Stewart put the Lions up 46-23. Blackford had 10 in the quarter for the Mustangs, and they made another charge to get back within 48-33 after Owen Martin got a steal and Mason Casner got a fast break, but Stewart hit a pullup and Carlson hit a guarded three to put the Lions back up 53-33.
North Nodaway kept coming at the Lions as Mason Casner hit a free throw and Aydan Blackford went coast to coast and finished with a reverse layup to cut it to 58-41 after three and then Blackford scored a free throw and Ethan Fry hit Blaine Clements to make it 58-44 with 5:41 left, still plenty of time, but then the bottom dropped out the rest of the way as the Lions pulled away for the 24 point win.
For North Nodaway, Aydan Blackford had 29, Blaine Clements and Mason Casner 7 each, and Owen Martin and Ethan Fry 4 each.
Trevin Wyllie had 2 blocks and Blaine Clements 1.
Mason Casner, Blaine Clements, and Owen Martin had 6 boards. Aydan Blackford had 4, Brice Trimble 2, and Trevin Wyllie and Jordan DeLeon 1.
Mason Casner had 5 assists. Ethan Fry had 3, Trevin Wyllie and Owen Martin 2, and Aydan Blackford and Brice Trimble 1 each.
Owen Martin had 2 tips while Mason Casner and Ethan Fry had 1 each. Owen Martin had 4 steals, Brice Trimble 3, and Mason Richardson and Landon Parman 1.
The Mustangs still had a successful tournament as they beat DeKalb, who had a winning record as of Saturday evening and has already improved on last year behind Devin Hall. They then beat a bigger school in Nodaway Valley behind the defense of Brice Trimble, who held Kayden Conn down in North Nodaway’s 47-39 win over the Thunder.
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