Thunder drop 14 treys in win over Colfax-Mingo

COLFAX — Colfax-Mingo boys basketball coach John Borts knew what was coming. He knew undefeated Grand View Christian could shoot it from long range.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much Borts or his Tigerhawks could do to force the Thunder to miss those shots.

Grand View Christian buried seven treys to grab a lead in the first quarter and finished with 14 in the game during a 77-59 win over the Tigerhawks in non-conference action here Thursday.

“When they dribble penetrate and we help defensively, they’ll dish it off for an open shot,” Colfax-Mingo coach John Borts said.

“You just can’t keep people from shooting the ball. They are good at it, too.

“They have a ton of 3-point shooters. There wasn’t any surprises at all. We just hoped we could play well enough that they wouldn’t be as effective.”

Colin Lourens had another big game for the Tigerhawks, but it wasn’t enough to slow down a Thunder team who is defeating their opponents by more than 40 points per game.

Blake Summy scored the first points of the game, but back-to-back triples by Stephen Glenn and Grant DeMeulenaere got the Thunder rolling and they never looked back in improving to 13-0 on the season.

Lourens did tie the game at 7-all with a bucket inside, but Robbie Seyler hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put GVC up 15-9 and his four trey of the period made it 25-13.

Glenn, who nailed the seventh 3-pointer in the first quarter to give the Thunder a 28-13 lead after one quarter, finished with a team-high 24 points in the win.

“They were just red-hot and we couldn’t do anything about it,” Borts said. “We missed six shots within five feet from the basket in the first quarter and that didn’t help. I wasn’t impressed with their defense either. There were all kinds of holes for us to take advantage of, but we played a little nervous in the first half.”

Seyler scored 12 and freshman big man Arturo Montes and DeMeulenaere gave the visitors four in double-figures with 10 and 12, respectively. DeMeulenaere joined the Thunder’s roster at semester and played in his sixth game Thursday.

Colfax-Mingo couldn’t get close enough to make things interesting, but did make a run in the third quarter.

The Tigerhawks trailed by 19 at halftime. Lourens scored six straight to close the gap to 14, but another run by the Thunder pushed their advantage back to 20 and they led by 22 after three quarters.

“We started to do that for awhile in the third, and we made a little run, but then we had some break downs defensively and they got some easy ones and the lead went back to what it was at halftime,” Borts said. “We just couldn’t chip it away enough in the third to make it interesting in the fourth.”

An 18-3 run by the Thunder, who received votes in the latest Associated Press Class 1A poll, gave them their largest lead of the game at 29 in the fourth quarter.

“Our passing wasn’t near as good as its capable of being, and we didn’t catch the ball clean sometimes,” Borts said. “We had chances. We are capable of playing with that team.

“Would we beat that team if we played better? You can’t ever say that. But I know that game could be interesting in the fourth quarter if we play like I think we can play.”

Lourens scored 28 points after scoring 29 on Tuesday night in a win over North Mahaska. The senior forward also grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out three assists.

“When you get him the ball, he can score it,” Borts said of Lourens. “He is playing really hard. Our team in general is playing hard. This game was perhaps a good example of how you have to play on every trip on both ends of the floor if you want to be a team like Grand View. They showed us how to play and maybe it will help us step up our level from here on out.”

Jacob Lietz had nine points, four rebounds and four assists for the Tigerhawks, who dropped to 9-5 on the year. Jarod Nichols had eight points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Colfax-Mingo, which hosts South Iowa Cedar League foe HLV (3-11) at 7:30 p.m. Friday, was hampered by 18 turnovers.

Grand View Christian 28-16-18-15—77

Colfax-Mingo 13-12-16-18 — 59

GVC (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Glenn 9/5-1-3-24, DeMeulenaere 3/2-4-2-12, Burt 2-0-1-4, Seyler 4/4-0-2-12, Long 2-2-4-6, Baker 2/2-0-1-6, Montes 5-0-2-10. Totals: 27/14-11-15-77.

C-M (FG/3-pt-FT-F-TP): Jacobs 0-0-1-0, Myers 2-0-4-4, Summy 1-3-0-5, Lietz 4-1-5-9, Borts 1-1-0-3, Nichols 4-0-1-8, Lourens 12-4-1-28, M. Deal 0-2-2-2. Totals: 24-11-13-59.