Baxter boys too much for short-handed Tigerhawks

COLFAX — Baxter’s boys basketball team prides itself in playing solid defense and hopes the intensity on that end of the floor turns into points at the other end.

The Bolts were able to get some easy transition buckets against a severely short-handed Colfax-Mingo squad on Friday night.

Baxter turned the Tigerhawks over 26 times, out-rebounded Colfax-Mingo by six and shot 48 percent from the floor during a 60-17 non-conference road win.

“Ultimately, we wanted to play our game. Our defense typically turns into our offense,” Baxter head boys basketball coach Zach Hasselbrink said. “That’s what we want to do. We did a nice job tonight.”

The Bolts jumped out to a 10-1 lead and never looked back. The Tigerhawks were without five varsity regulars in the game and just couldn’t keep up with a Baxter squad which claimed its ninth straight win.

Carson Scroggins finished with a game-high 23 points. He threw down a dunk early in the second quarter, scored on a putback a bit later and then ended the half with a layup at the buzzer.

Scroggins also made a jump shot in the period as the Bolts (17-4) led 28-11 at the break.

“We didn’t really have someone last year that we could truly rely on to be the No. 1 guy,” Hasselbrink said. “That’s what we lacked I guess you could say. Carson wanted to be that guy this year and prepared to be it this last offseason. He is that guy for us now.”

The Bolts outscored the Tigerhawks 26-1 in the third and they scored the final 22 points of the period. Scroggins ended the frame with 13 in a row that featured another dunk and 12 points in the paint in all.

“It’s inside-out basketball. He can hit the 3 to stretch the defense and has enough bounce that he can get up and get to the rim,” Hasselbrink said. “He’s taken a huge step at the offensive end.”

Harrison Rhone led the Tigerhawks (3-16) with a career-high eight points and that included a 3-pointer in the fourth. Baxter’s Tanner Scroggins also buried a pair of free throws.

Carson Scroggins added six rebounds and two blocks to his stat line and Rory Heer put in 12 points and had four rebounds.

Treyton Travis registered nine points, five rebounds, four assists and five steals, Nate McMinamen added seven points, four rebounds and two steals and Cody Damman chipped in four rebounds, five assists and five steals.

Off the bench, Cael Shepley and Trice Clapper both pulled down three boards and Shepley swiped two steals.

The Bolts were 11-of-20 from the free-throw line, out-rebounded Colfax-Mingo 34-28 and turned the ball over just nine times.

Colfax-Mingo’s Cole Bracewell is averaging a team-best 12.6 points per game this winter but Heer held him to two points on Friday. Bracewell did have three rebounds and two steals.

“He’s an all-conference player because he plays defense. There are not many of those out there, but our league recognizes that we put Rory on the other team’s best player most nights,” Hasselbrink said. “He takes away what they want to do. He does that night in and night out. We rely on that, and he did a nice job again tonight.”

Rhone finished with four rebounds and two steals and Conner Wood grabbed two rebounds as they continue to start for teammates who are out with illnesses.

Carter Gibson had three points and six boards and Joe Earles returned to the starting lineup and finished with six rebounds. Shane Hostetter had three boards off the bench.

The Tigerhawks shot 18 percent from the floor, made 1-of-11 from 3-point range and hit 2-of-10 from the line.

“The defense is what travels. That’s based on our intensity and based on the effort we want to give,” Hasselbrink said. “We got some easy buckets in the third and did what we talked about at halftime. We haven’t seen the 1-3-1 for a while and give some credit to them. They did well with it in the first quarter for sure. They slowed us down.”

Notes: Colfax-Mingo was without starters Cael Bracewell and Colton Lind and key varsity reserves Trey Hockemeier and Brandon Kite due to illness. Starter Curtis Horras also is out with a finger injury. The team is expected to get most of these players back next week.