C-M boys build early lead, hold off BGM

COLFAX — The first half of Colfax-Mingo’s South Iowa Cedar League game with BGM was picture perfect.

On the offensive end, the ball moved swiftly and unselfish play led to a lot of easy buckets. Defensively, the energy level was high and the help-side defense was strong.

Unfortunately for the Tigerhawks, the team’s youth and inexperience shined through in the second half.

Colfax-Mingo led by 25 points at halftime. A second-half rally by BGM got the Bears as close as four in the fourth quarter, but six free throws in the final minute helped the Tigerhawk boys basketball team to a 50-44 home win Friday night.

“We are still young and inexperienced. The lack of experience really hurt us tonight,” Colfax-Mingo coach Nick Noring said. “We were satisfied with one good half. That has been our devil’s advocate all season.”

As bad as the second half was for Colfax-Mingo, the game ended in a win, and that’s the most important thing. The Tigerhawks halted a two-game skid and improved to 8-9 overall and 8-7 in the SICL.

“We battled this week. We played some tough games, most of the guys have been sick,” Noring said. “It was a big win. We have been grinding, and to get any win at this point is huge for us.”

Junior Jarod Nichols put in a career-high 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. He had 17 points in the first half, helping the Tigerhawks to a 35-10 advantage after two quarters.

Colfax-Mingo led 15-3 after the first frame.

“This is huge momentum for us,” Nichols said. “You’d expect underclassmen and a young team to mess up, but we fought through it and stayed through the gameplan.”

BGM (8-10 overall, 6-8 in the SICL) scored 11 of the first 13 points of the second half to quickly trim the Tigerhawk lead to 16.

The Bears closed the gap to 12 entering the fourth quarter.

“We just lost the mojo. Out of nowhere, we just lost our confidence, lost it from an execution perspective and lost our energy,” Noring said. “We just stopped sticking to what we did with the gameplan.”

The Tigerhawk lead got as low as four after Jayce Knight hit a jumper with 1:28 to play.

Sophomore Holister Koenig and Nichols each hit 1-of-2 from the line to push the lead to six, and then Koenig, Nichols and junior Reegan Van Dyke each hit a combined five free throws in the final 30 seconds to keep Colfax-Mingo in front.

“Honestly, we played a lot of basketball this week,” Nichols said. “I think we were just tired and some of us are still sick. I think fatigue kicked in in the second half.

“Those free throws late in the game were huge. If we don’t make as many as we did, they probably have come back and get us.”

Van Dyke finished with six points, 10 rebounds and three assists, while freshman Brady Berkey, sophomore Zarek Hill and Koenig all scored five points.

Junior Jonathan Jacobs dished out six assists.

Knight was forced to the bench early in the first quarter with two fouls. He scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half to help the Bears rally. Kyle Doty scored all 13 of his points in the second half.

Colfax-Mingo plays Class 1A No. 6 Lynnville-Sully at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Sully.

BGM 3-7-17-17 — 44

Colfax-Mingo 15-20-4-11 — 50

BGM (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP) — Price 0-0-5-0, Knight 8/1-1-2-18, Doty 4/3-2-5-13, Robertson 0-0-2-0, Weiss 3-0-2-6, Felix 2-0-0-4, Beck 0-2-1-2, Irlbeck 0-1-5-1. TOTALS 17/4-6-22-44.

Colfax-Mingo (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP) — Berkey 2-1-2-5, Van Dyke 1/1-1-2-6, Jacobs 0-0-0-0, Hill 2/1-0-1-5, Nichols 8/2-9-2-27, Seebeck 1-0-1-2, Koenig 1/1-2-2-5, Lewis 0-0-2-0. TOTALS 16/5-13-12-50.