L-S boys cruise past Colfax-Mingo in SICL basketball matchup

COLFAX — Senior Connor Deal and junior Cameyon James didn’t start a single game for the Lynnville-Sully boys basketball team last season.

The Hawk duo averaged a combined 8.1 points per contest but both have eclipsed that number over the first two games of the season, and they led Lynnville-Sully to a 68-22 road win over Colfax-Mingo on Friday.

The Hawks started fast, dominated on the boards and posted their 11th straight win over the Tigerhawks and six players scored at least seven points in the latest South Iowa Cedar League victory.

“That’s got to be a strength of this year’s team. We want to keep the pressure on and keep fresh bodies coming,” Lynnville-Sully head boys basketball coach Nick Harthoorn said. “Hopefully over the course of the game, that will wear on our opponent. We hope to get a 10-0 run at some points just because we’ve wore down the other team. That’s what we’re looking for.”

James still hasn’t started a game in his varsity career but his 27 points through two games leads the Hawks.

He put in 12 on Friday, and four of his eight rebounds came on the offensive end of the floor.

“I like the way he’s attacked the boards,” Harthoorn said. “He’s going right to the hole, going to the offensive rebounds and sticking the bunnies. Hopefully he can continue to do that all season. I don’t see why he couldn’t.”

The Hawks scored the first seven points of the game and led 21-5 after one quarter.

Jack Bowlin scored back-to-back buckets after Sawyer Veldhuizen canned a 3-pointer. James’ first basket was a reverse layup, and Dawson James added six points in the opening frame.

The L-S lead grew to 26-5 after layups by Deal and Bowlin. Cameyon James added back-to-back baskets later and then was fouled while making a bucket inside to push the margin to 34-7.

Cameyon James said he’s comfortable coming off the bench he has confidence in himself no matter what.

“I worked on a lot of post moves and working through contact on all of my layups,” Cameyon James said about what he did in the offseason to improve. “I also worked a lot of the mid-range stuff. I wanted to be ready for the season and next season, too.”

The Hawks went into halftime with a 40-7 advantage and Cameyon James put in 10 of his team-best 12 points in the first half and Bowlin scored all nine of his points in the first two quarters.

Deal, who is averaging 11.5 points through two games, totaled six of his 10 in the third quarter and his back-to-back baskets swelled the margin to 46-9.

Colfax-Mingo’s Gage Byal ended an 11-0 run by L-S midway through the third and Wyatt Thornton buried a jumper to close the gap to 57-13. But Trace Carlson scored the final four points of the frame to extend the advantage to 63-13 after three.

“We’re teaching them to play through a game like this where you play a really good team,” Colfax-Mingo head boys basketball coach Michael Hunsberger said. “You have to focus on what you can learn and grow and move forward in.

“We just have to learn the kind of effort it takes night in and night out as we’re learning and growing. It’s a challenge for sure when you play teams like this, but we have some games in front of us we think we can compete in.”

The Tigerhawks won the fourth, 9-5. Byal hit another jumper, Thornton connected on a free throw and Jace Lewis converted a three-point play to headline the quarter.

Weston Boehm buried the first 3-pointer of his career to cap the scoring.

Cameyon James’ 12 points and eight rebounds led the Hawks (2-0, 2-0 in the conference), but Deal had 10 points, four rebounds and three steals, Dawson James chipped in 10 points and two boards and Will Van Vark totaled nine points, six rebounds, five assists and six steals.

Bowlin posted nine points, four rebounds and four steals, Veldhuizen chipped in seven points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals and Karson Van Maanen grabbed two boards, dished out three assists and swiped two steals off the bench.

Carlson registered four four points and four rebounds, Brody Borg scored the first three points of his varsity career, Michael Spooner grabbed two rebounds and Ethan Dunsbergen dished out two assists.

“We know that we’ll have some tougher games at some point, but it’s nice to get everyone into the game in our first few games,” Harthoorn said. “We want them to get a feel for the game and handle the ball a little bit. That’s been beneficial for us.”

The Hawks shot 43.8 percent from the floor, made 3-of-14 from 3-point range and connected on only 9-of-21 from the free-throw line. They out-rebounded Colfax-Mingo 45-18.

Hunsberger knew it was going to be a tall task against a talented Lynnville-Sully squad, but he thought his team could have played better.

“The high level is not always the scoreboard,” Hunsberger said. “I want us to play at a level I know they are capable of. We can control our effort, we can make good passes and we can box out hard. We did not box out well tonight at all. They are a taller team, but we have to stay committed to the fundamentals.”

Lewis led C-M with seven points and three rebounds. Byal had four points, two rebounds and two steals, Wyatt Carpenter chipped in four rebounds and two steals and Thornton totaled three points and two rebounds.

Camden Cunningham and Boehm each scored three points, Wyatt Jay grabbed three rebounds and Alex Teed corralled two boards.

The Tigerhawks (0-3, 0-2) shot 28.6 percent from the floor, made 2-of-5 from 3 and connected on 4-of-5 from the foul line. They also committed 29 turnovers.

Notes: If Harthoorn is going to complain about something so far this season, he wants his team to finish better around the rim. “We just didn’t finish a lot our layups, and against better opponents, when you get those opportunities, you have to stick them,” Harthoorn said. “We talked about it in the locker room, when we do full court layups, when we do the Mikan drill, go as hard as you can go. It’s easy to make them in practice when you’re going three quarters speed, but when you explode hard in the game it can be different. We just want to clean that up a bit.”

Sigourney 44, Colfax-Mingo 24

COLFAX — A tough shooting night and 30 turnovers plagued the Tigerhawks during their SICL contest against Sigourney on Thursday.

Colfax-Mingo trailed by 10 at halftime but were outscored by only 10 the rest of the way during a 44-24 home loss.

“I was really proud of how the guys played last night against a Sigourney team that I also think is pretty good,” Hunsberger said. “We were within nine in the third quarter. We played really good defense and had amazing effort last night, and it’s just hard to do that on back-to-back nights against two really good teams.”

It was Sigourney’s sixth straight win over Colfax-Mingo. The Tigerhawks were out-rebounded 38-27.

Carpenter led the hosts with eight points, four rebounds and three assists.

Lewis posted six points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals, Izaiah Lewis grabbed five rebounds and two assists, Byal scored four points and had three boards and Cunningham chipped in four rebounds and two assists.

Jay grabbed four boards, Teed had three rebounds and two steals and the Tigerhawks shot 25.6 percent from the floor, missed all five of their attempts from 3 and connected on 4-of-12 from the foul line.

John Berg led Sigourney (3-0, 2-0) with 17 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks. Brayden Wood added nine points, five rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

The Savages won the game despite shooting 28 percent from the floor. They were 5-of-18 from 3, made 9-of-20 from the foul line and turned the ball over 17 times.