BGM’s experience too much for young Tigerhawks

COLFAX — The experience of the BGM boys’ basketball team was too much for Colfax-Mingo to handle on Friday night during a South Iowa Cedar League contest.

The Tigerhawks return just one starter from last season, while the Bears have three seniors and a junior in their starting lineup.

BGM got 23 points from junior Noah Beck, 21 points from Kyle Cadden and 17 from senior Ulises Felix during a 68-51 road win over Colfax-Mingo.

The older Bears were just better than the youthful Tigerhawks, and head coach Mark Rague is accepting the fact that he has a rebuilding project on his hands.

Colfax-Mingo has only two upperclassmen, and the inexperience was too much to overcome.

“This is an awesome opportunity. I get to do what I love to do, shape and mold them and work with them,” Rague said. “The results aren’t what we want right now, but we are getting better. I am going to put my head to the grind stone and get back to work tomorrow.”

Colfax-Mingo started off its game with BGM on a positive note, leading 9-4 in the first quarter. Five of those points came from senior Zarek Hill, who scored 13 in the loss.

Unfortunately for the Tigerhawks (1-3 overall, 1-3 in the SICL), the lead was short-lived as the Bears used a 20-0 run to take control and BGM never trailed again.

“They ramped up the pressure. Then we started to go away from what we work on and talk about in practice,” Rague said. “Improvising is great in some situations, but not so great in others. We have to work at getting better at staying with what we are trying to do.”

Junior Brady Berkey came into the game averaging 19 points per game but was held to five in the first half. He hit a jumper and buried a 3-pointer late in the second quarter, but the Colfax-Mingo deficit was still 35-19 at the break.

“I thought we would be able to apply some of what we learned on Tuesday and be more successful tonight. For whatever reason, that didn’t happen,” Rague said. “It would help to cut down on turnovers, rebound better and make some shots.”

Like they did against Lynnville-Sully on Tuesday, the Tigerhawks rallied. They got within 12 a couple of times in the third quarter.

BGM (3-1, 3-1) maintained a double-digit lead until C-M cut its deficit to nine on a layup by Berkey and a bucket by sophomore A.J. Green.

The Bears then used an 8-0 to go back up 17 before Berkey connected on a trey to make it 65-51.

Beck put the finishing touches on the win with a layup and a free throw in the closing seconds. The Bears scored 13 of the game’s final 16 points to win by 17.

“In my mind, everything that could have happened at this point has happened. It was possible for us to be 1-3 and not play terribly,” Rague said. “My job is to take every little lesson that we can get out of these situations and apply it and use it as quickly as we can.”

Beck added eight rebounds, eight assists and eight steals to go with his 23 points. Cadden grabbed 16 rebounds to go with his 21 points. The Bears only went seven deep.

Berkey reached 18 points after scoring 11 in the fourth. Sophomore Jake Nichols had six of his career-high nine points in the second half, and Green also had a career-high six points.

Right now, Berkey is the No. 1 priority for any opposing team’s defense. On Friday night, BGM often sagged off several Tigerhawks to put more attention on Berkey and, to some extent, Hill.

“We’ve got role players we are trying to develop so they can be respected and you have to honor those guys,” Rague said. “It will take some time to figure out what we are good at. We have to keep plugging away.”

BGM 18-17-13-20 — 68

Colfax-Mingo 9-10-17-15 — 51

BGM (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP) — Noah Beck 8-7-1-23, Kyle Cadden 10-1-2-21, Scott Tibbetts 1-0-3-2, Ulises Felix 8/1-0-3-17, Jacob Moel 1-0-4-2, Joe Kasal 0-0-1-0, Grant Hall 1/1-0-3-3. Totals 29/2-8-17-68.

Colfax-Mingo (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP) — Brady Berkey 7/2-1-18, Zarek Hill 4/2-3-3-13, Zach Steenhoek 0-0-1-0, David Rague 1-0-5-2, Jake Nichols 3-3-4-9, Jordan Lundin 1/1-0-0-3, A.J. Green 3-0-3-6, Cole Bracewell 0-0-1-0. Totals 19/5-8-18-51.