L-S boys use first-half run to down Colfax-Mingo

COLFAX — Conner Maston knew the opportunity to throw down his first in-game dunk was there. He just hoped he could finish the deal.

Maston’s dunk midway through the second quarter capped a 20-3 run by Lynnville-Sully’s boys basketball team and the Hawks never looked back against Colfax-Mingo during a 64-29 road win.

Maston did just about everything for the Hawks in the South Iowa Cedar League game, finishing with 18 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, three steals and three blocks.

“He was huge for us tonight. He did it in a lot of different areas,” L-S boys coach Nick Harthoorn said. “I just told him a lot of people will talk about the dunk he had, but he did everything for us. He scored it, he rebounded and he defended.”

Colfax-Mingo recovered from an early 8-2 deficit with an 8-0 run that included back-to-back treys by Joe Earles. But the Tigerhawks couldn’t overcome the 20-3 spurt by a Hawks’ team who is still without starters Preston Rodibaugh and Klayton Van Dyke.

Maston ended the first quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers and started the second with another trey. He scored 15 of the 20 points during the deciding run and capped it off with a uncontested dunk after a live-ball steal.

“Our defense got them stuck in the corner and they made a pass that I was able to get to,” Maston said. “I knew the opportunity to do it would be there so I was just trying not to screw it up.

“That was a huge stretch. Our defense got it done tonight. That created some offense for us. When the defense is working it can help you at both ends of the floor.”

The Hawks (4-3 overall, 3-2 in the SICL) led 15-10 after one and a 3-pointer to end the second by Corder Noun Harder made it 34-16 at halftime. L-S won the second 19-6 and outscored the Tigerhawks 20-9 in the third.

L-S opened the second half with an 11-0 run. The final nine came on two treys from Mason Rodibaugh and another triple by Noun Harder. Maston pushed the lead to 51-20 after he converted a three-point play with 52 seconds to play in the third.

“We held them to six in the second and found some rhythm offensively,” Harthoorn said. “We created a gap in that second quarter and that was the difference.”

Cole Bracewell ended the frame with a three-point play of his own. He opened the fourth by making 3-of-4 from the free-throw line and led the Tigerhawks (1-4, 0-4) with 12 points and two rebounds.

Jacob Fogle scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds off the bench for L-S. Eight of those nine points came in the fourth.

Mason Rodibaugh finished with 14 points and four rebounds and Noun Harder registered 11 points, three rebounds, six assists and two steals. Kale Ehresman had five points, two rebounds and two steals, Ryan Annee collected four points, four rebounds and two steals and Lucas Sieck hit a 3-pointer and grabbed a pair of boards.

Josh Hardenbrook collected three rebounds, three assists and two steals, Keegan DeWitt pulled down five boards and Blake Van Wyk had two rebounds.

The Hawks shot 35 percent from the floor and made 12-of-42 from 3-point range. They out-rebounded the Tigerhawks 51-27, had a 17-3 advantage in bench points and scored 16 points off 19 Colfax-Mingo turnovers.

“It was a good defensive effort from our guys. We didn’t shoot it great tonight, but we did other things to get ourselves more opportunities,” Harthoorn said. “We were able to hurt them on the boards and turn them over a fair amount of times. It was good to see a lot of different guys contribute offensively.”

Earles finished with eight points and six rebounds, Cael Bracewell registered three points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals and Carter Gibson had four rebounds and three steals for the Tigerhawks.

Brandon Kite scored three points and had two rebounds and Colton Lind pulled down two boards.

The Tigerhawks shot 24.4 percent from the floor, hit 2-of-16 from 3-point range and made 7-of-11 from the foul line.

“We just didn’t shoot the ball well at all,” C-M boys basketball coach Phil Grant said. “We had a full week off and lost our momentum. Hopefully we can get it back later this week. We had a lot of pretty good shots, but we are still one pass and shooting it too much. We want to be up-tempo, but there’s a balance.”

Notes: Harthoorn said he expects to get Preston Rodibaugh and Van Dyke back after Christmas. They haven’t played in a varsity game yet this season.