L-S boys cruise past rival North Mahaska

SULLY — Opponents trying to defend the Lynnville-Sully boys basketball team are unsure what they will get from the Hawks on a night to night basis.

Three players came into Friday night’s game against North Mahaska averaging double figures but seven players are scoring anywhere from 6 to 12.3 after the home win over the Warhawks.

Sawyer Veldhuizen took over the team scoring lead with a 20-point effort against one of the Hawks’ biggest rivals, but he was coming off a game in which he made only 2-of-16 from the floor and 1-of-8 from 3-point range.

“It felt really good especially since I didn’t have my best game on Tuesday from a shooting perspective,” Veldhuizen said. “Seeing the ball go in was awesome. My team has confidence in me and I have confidence in myself.”

Veldhuizen shot the ball with confidence against North Mahaska, and the Hawks remained unbeaten on the season following a 73-35 victory in South Iowa Cedar League play.

It was the Hawks’ largest margin of victory in the series since at least 2006.

L-S leads the series 33-12 since that same season, but North Mahaska had won five of seven and two straight coming into its only SICL meeting of the season.

“I’m proud of the effort they’ve given and they are playing unselfishly on offense,” L-S head boys basketball coach Nick Harthoorn said. “You can see that with our scoring. They are trying to do things the right way, and I appreciate that.

“We want to be consistent in what we do and use our depth. We want to stick to what we do well.”

The Hawks used their depth against North Mahaska. Veldhuizen scored 20 and Connor Deal had 11 but six players put in at least six points in the win.

Deal scored five quick ones as he gave the Hawks an early 7-4 lead following a 3 and a runner in the lane.

Veldhuizen was 4-of-8 from 3. He drained two of those in the opening quarter and Trace Carlson’s triple swelled the Hawks’ margin to 19-8. Carlson’s putback at the end of the quarter gave L-S a 21-11 lead after one.

The Hawks (6-0, 6-0 in the SICL) scored the first eight in the second and the 10-0 run that included back-to-back layups by Deal and a pair of layups by Dawson James extended the home team’s lead to 29-11.

North Mahaska played better later in the half, but L-S won the second 15-11 and took a 14-point lead into halftime.

“We have a saying where we say it’s not my shot, it’s our shot,” Harthoorn said. “We want to continue to work the ball and trust the offense.

“We have a lot of confidence in all of our guys. If they have a good look, we want them to take it. We’ll play from there.”

Lynnville-Sully outscored the Warhawks 21-7 in the third. The Hawks opened the second half on a 13-2 run. That stretch featured a runner and a layup by Will Van Vark and a Veldhuizen layup and jumper.

Veldhuizen and Carlson connected on back-to-back 3s later in the quarter to extend the Hawks’ lead to 55-27, and they led 57-29 after three.

The Hawks won the fourth 16-6. More than half of those points came from reserves as Carter Tice scored twice inside, Michael Spooner canned a trey and Karson Van Maanen converted a runner in the lane.

“That makes it challenging for our opponents to maybe dial into who they need to guard tightly or what they want to do defensively if they don’t know where it’s going to come from,” Harthoorn said about the balanced scoring.

Veldhuizen totaled four rebounds, two assists and two steals to go with his 20 points.

Deal chipped in three rebounds, two assists and a career-best seven steals to go with his 11 points. Van Vark posted nine points, two rebounds and four assists, James chipped in nine points, four boards and two steals.

Jack Bowlin grabbed five rebounds and Cameyon James finished with six points, seven rebounds and three blocks off the bench.

Carlson’s eight points and two rebounds also were off the bench, and the reserves added Van Maanen’s five rebounds, four assists and two blocks, Tice’s four points, Spooner’s three points and Ethan Dunsbergen’s two assists.

“Everybody works together on that end of the floor to get the best shot,” Veldhuizen said. “If one of us is having an off night, we have others who can score, too. It shows up in practice every day. It’s a fight, and that’s how we get better.”

The Hawks shot 46.2 percent from the floor, made 9-of-20 from 3 and connected on 4-of-6 from the free-throw line.

Lynnville-Sully turned the ball over only eight times, out-rebounded North Mahaska 37-18, swiped 13 steals and blocked six shots.

Trenton DeBruin led the Warhawks with 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocks and Jaxon VanDerVeer posted six points, six rebounds and four assists.

The Warhawks (2-4, 2-3) shot 35 percent from the floor, made 3-of-16 from 3 and made the only two free throws they attempted. They also turned the ball over 23 times.

“(North Mahaska) has some size and strength that gave us some fits inside at times,” Harthoorn said. “They bothered some shots in there, but for us we wanted to stay the course, keep the pressure on and keep coming at them and hopefully over the length of the four quarters at some point we can wear them down a little bit.”

Lynnville-Sully has defeated all six of its opponents this month by double digits. The Hawks’ margin of victory through six games is 34.8.

“I like that we’re hungry going into every game,” Veldhuizen said. “We haven’t overlooked any opponents no matter what the record says. We’re always ready to go every night.”

Notes: Veldhuizen is now averaging a team-best 12.3 points per game. Van Vark and Cameyon James also are scoring in double figures. Cameyon James came into the game as the team’s leading scorer off the bench. Van Maanen is averaging 6.0 points off the bench, too.