Creston wins battle over Cardinals
Feb. 8—CLARINDA — It appeared like a lot of work for what was shown on the scoreboard. Creston boys basketball appeared to work overtime for its 53-42 in Monday at Clarinda.
"We looked good in some stretches, but it was ugly and physical in a lot of places. We had to fight through that," said Creston coach Bryce Schafer.
At the end of the first quarter, Creston was up 9-5. Clarinda's Sam Kline made a free throw to make the score 3-2 in favor of Creston at the 4:15 mark.
Panther Parker Varner and Cael Turner's shots would be the rest for the team that quarter.
"I want to take on four guys to try and score instead of sharing," Schafer said about his team's offense at that point. "The defense, I was pleased with."
The offensive play and flow for both teams improved in the second quarter. Panther Lucas Rushing's 3-point shot gave Creston a 19-7 lead with 5:50 left in the half. The double-digit lead was maintained by Creston the rest of the quarter.
Schafer said the game reminded him at times of Creston's game with Harlan, which also started out as a low-scoring affair.
"Similar kind of game plan by those two coaches. I don't think they could necessarily stay with us from a speed perspective, so keep things tight and make us make shots," Schafer said comparing Clarinda to Harlan.
Schafer said the key for his team was to make high percentage shots and not force bad ones.
"It comes down to not taking quick stupid shots. Yeah, they are open, but it's not the ones we want. Once we got the shots we wanted, we had a high percentage of shots being made."
Schafer also credited the first half defense for the first half score.
"Holding a team to 15 points, I'll take that all day," he said.
The blend of Creston's scoring and preventing Clarinda from doing the same continued in the third quarter. Cael Turner's basket extended the Creston lead to 34-15. Clarinda did find the basket, but not to take the deficit to less than 10. Creston was up 41-25 heading into the fourth.
The Cardinals made a run in the fourth quarter. A basket after a rebound from a missed free throw cut the lead to 42-35 with 3:26 remaining.
"We were loose with the ball. As many tight games we have been in sometimes when the pressure gets applied, we get a little hot potato. We need to clean that up. Recalibrate our mind and slow down," Schafer said.
Creston's Tony Davidson ended the Clarinda run with a basket with 2:10 left giving Creston a 48-37 lead. Clarinda could not get any closer.
Turner was high score for Creston with 15 points. He was 7-18 shooting and 1-3 at the free throw line. Davidson was next with 13 from 5-9 shooting. He also had one 3-point shot and 2-4 free throws. Jake Hoyt finished with 10.
Varner led Creston with eight rebounds.
As a team, Creston was 19-50 shooting including 4-20 at the 3-point line. The Panthers were 11-20 at the free throw line. Creston had 10 more rebounds than Clarinda, 34-24. Creston had 17 turnovers to Clarinda's 11.
Clarinda was 15-56 shooting including 1-20 from the 3-point line. Clarinda was 11-19 at the free throw line.
Creston (8-10) host Central Decatur Thursday and are at Harlan Friday.
