Indians Sweep the Wolves
The St. Francis Indians defeated the Idalia Wolves in high school boys basketball on Tuesday, January 6, 2015. St. Francis won both boys contests. The varsity boys earned a 68-58 win over a scrappy Wolves team. The junior varsity boys had little trouble with their Idalia opponents, winning 72-28.
Cade Bracelin scored the first basket of the varsity game, but Idalia quickly answered with a trey to take the lead. Jeremiah Neitzel scored the next Indian basket, a result of good press offense execution by the Indians. The Wolves then earned a steal-two to lead 4-5. It was the last lead the visitors would hold as the Indians reeled of the next 10 points to take a 14-5 lead. Two of the scores were treys by Tate Busse. Jude Faulkender also added an offensive rebound basket in the run. Idalia called time-out to regroup with 3:22 left in the first period. Idalia scored after the time-out, but the Indians continued to extend their advantage surging for six more unanswered points to lead 20-7. It appeared as if the Indians were going to blow the game wide open, but Idalia had other thoughts. The Wolves scored the final two baskets of the period (both as a result of press offense) to trail 20-11 at the first quarter break.
The Wolves also opened the second period with two more quick baskets, one on press offense and one on an offensive rebound, to trim the margin to 20-15. What appeared to be a potential runaway, was now a game again. After earning two free throws by Taylor Rogers, a driving basket by Tate Busse, and two more free throws by Rogers, the Indians led 26-18. The Wolves trimmed the deficit back to five points (27-22) on an offensive rebound with just over three minutes left in the half. The Indians responded with two quick baskets, the latter being scored by Jakob Church after a nice assist by Cade Bracelin (31-22). The Indians' transition defense (or lack thereof) resulted in another break basket by the Wolves, but then the Indians made another run. Leading 31-24, the Indians received a basket on a drive by Busse, offensive rebound scores by Jeremiah Neitzel and Jakob Church, and a free throw by Cade Bracelin to lead 38-24. The Wolves nailed a shot at the buzzer to bring the halftime score to 38-26.
The third period scoring opened with a trey by the Wolves and a Taylor Rogers steal-two. Idalia baskets, one on a break and one from the post, moved the score to 40-33. Neither team scored for several minutes, but the Indians eventually earned a free throw by Rogers. With 4:45 left in the period, a beautiful pass from Cade Bracelin led to a score by Jude Faulkender on the break (43-33). Even though Idalia drained two treys in the final minutes of the period, the Indians still led by ten, 50-40, after three quarters of play.
The Wolves scored the first two baskets of the final period (post move and press-break) to cut the Indian advantage to six points (50-44). Tate Busse responded with consecutive treys on the next two Indian possessions (56-44). Idalia scored on a drive, but the Indians followed with a post-move basket by Cade Bracelin (assist Taylor Rogers) and a steal-two by Quinton Cravens. The Wolves called time-out with 4:49 remaining. The time-out seemed to refocus the Wolves, and they responded by scoring six consecutive points (steal-two, offensive rebound, and break) to bring the score to 60-52 with 2:55 remaining. Jude Faulkender scored the next five St. Francis points; a free throw and a post-move basket (assist Cade Bracelin), and an offensive rebound. Idalia added three quick scores, all on press offense. With 40 seconds remaining, the Indians led 65-58. Free throws, one by Jakob Church and two by Bracelin, rounded out the scoring. St. Francis had jumped out to an early lead and held on to win 68-58.
Coach Beims made the following comments about the contest, "I was moderately pleased with our efforts against Idalia Tuesday night. I thought we executed better on the offensive end and attacked the offensive boards better than the last few games. I think we still need to take care of the ball better. When you play the fast-paced style we do, you are going to have more turnovers, but it’s the unforced turnovers we have to minimize. We need to learn to value each possession. I think we also need some improvement in our transition defense. We are giving up too many easy buckets at the other end. Some of that is a product of our style again, but we just aren’t getting back and stopping the ball as well as we should."
Both teams had three players in double figures. Jason Dutton (14), Erik Enriquez (13), and Trevor Hurlburt (10) led the Wolves in scoring. Idalia made 4 of 10 from the line. Tate Busse scored 23 points to lead the Indians. Cade Bracelin added 12 and Jude Faulkender 11. Other players scoring in the contest for the Indians included: Taylor Rogers 7, Jeremiah Neitzel 7, Jakob Church 5, and Quinton Cravens 3. The Indians made 15 of 32 free throws.
The junior varsity boys jumped out to a 16-6 first quarter lead and extended their advantage to 32-18 at halftime. In the third period, the Indians earned 24 points while holding the Wolves to only two. The Indians led 56-20 after three periods and cruised to a 72-28 win.
Eight Indians scored five or more points in the JV game: Dalton Straub (18), Francisco Fernandez (10), Jakob Church (9), Quinton Cravens (9), Mark Coon (8), Jake Faulkender (7), Carl Fabre (6), and Travis Rogers (5). The Indians connected on only 4 of 10 from the line. Tennison Hoyda and Charlie Bator led the Wolves with 7 and 8 respectively. The Wolves made 3 of their 7 free-throw attempts.
The Indians will play Golden Plains, in Rexford, on Saturday, January 10. The games will be played "four-in-a-row" beginning at 2:00 p.m.
