Slow start plagues Colfax-Mingo boys in loss to Pleasantville

COLFAX — Colfax-Mingo head boys basketball coach Phil Grant can see the improvements from his team.

The strides the Tigerhawks have taken through 10 games are there. They just haven’t yet translated into wins.

Two days after playing its best game of the season, Colfax-Mingo took a few steps backwards during a home loss to Pleasantville.

The Tigerhawks fell behind early and never recovered during a 76-42 non-conference home defeat to the Trojans.

“We’ve made some strides. Tonight didn’t go well, but I thought we played OK in the third quarter,” Grant said. “We were down 20 at halftime. We did some nice things defensively in the third, but didn’t turn it into good things on offense.”

Pleasantville jumped out to a 10-0 lead and led 18-7 after one quarter. Cael Bracewell and Harrison Rhone both picked up two fouls in the opening frame, and the Tigerhawks already were missing a starter coming into the night.

Bracewell was limited in his time on the floor in the first half. He sat most of the second quarter after picking up his third foul early in the period.

Rhone was whistled for his third and fourth fouls with 1:45 to play in the first half.

Bracewell did lead the Tigerhawks in scoring with nine, and Rhone and Elias Hostetter each scored eight.

The Trojans (6-5) more than doubled up the Tigerhawks in the second and led 37-16 at halftime. Rhone buried a 3-pointer and Hostetter scored on back-to-back jumpers.

“Elias has a motor that’s always on high. He’s been asking to take shots after practice, too,” Grant said. “He’s making strides and does a good job finishing at the rim.”

Pleasantville scored the first six points of the third, but C-M rallied behind a layup by Hostetter and a 3 by Bracewell. Rhone and Logan Exley also connected on treys in the frame, but the visitors led 52-27 after three.

The Tigerhawks’ best scoring quarter was the fourth, but they also allowed 24 points to the Trojans.

The 15-point fourth quarter featured a pair of 3s by Bracewell, a couple of putbacks by Kale Wilwerding, a basket inside by Jared Lewis and a triple by Konner Dalton.

The Trojans scored the final nine points of the game and shot 54 percent from the floor.

Colfax-Mingo (0-10) did not have the services of starting post Carter Gibson and it was out-rebounded 43-30. The Tigerhawks also turned the ball over 19 times and made only 29 percent of their shots.

“Not having his size is going to impact us because we don’t have a lot of it,” Grant said about Gibson. “We broke their pressure fine, but then we got flustered and took quick shots. We let too much stuff going on out on the court get into our head instead of just running our stuff.”

The Trojans did not turn the Tigerhawks over too much with their full-court pressure, but used a trap at the top of the key to get Colfax-Mingo out of rhythm offensively.

“We got stuck watching a ton. They trapped us out top and we didn’t run through our offense,” Grant said. “We just watched and had three or four guys just waiting to see what happened instead of making a decision. We have things to counter that stuff, but we just get nervous.”

Bracewell finished with a team-best nine points and added four rebounds and two steals.

Rhone chipped in eight points, two rebounds, four assists and two steals and Hostetter finished with eight points and four boards.

Lewis totaled six points and three rebounds, Wilwerding collected four points and three rebounds, Dalton had three points and four boards and Exley tallied three points and two rebounds.

Kaden Dalton and Brandon Kite each grabbed three rebounds, and the Tigerhawks were 8-of-33 from the 3 and 2-of-7 from the free-throw line.

Dayson Leerhoff was the only player in double-digits in the game and he finished with 34 points. The Trojans turned the ball over 14 times and they were 10-of-21 from the line.

Gibson missed the game because of a family vacation. Grant said he will miss a total of three games.

Sigourney 56, Colfax-Mingo 32

SIGOURNEY — Colfax-Mingo was limited to 20.4 percent shooting and the Tigerhawks connected on only three 3-pointers during a 56-32 loss to Sigourney in South Iowa Cedar League action on Friday.

Colfax-Mingo trailed by only three after one quarter but was outscored 43-22 in the final three frames.

Hostetter led the Tigerhawks with six points, four rebounds and three assists, Bracewell chipped in seven points and six boards and Rhone tallied seven points and five rebounds.

Lewis collected five points and two boards, Wilwerding grabbed five boards and swiped two steals, Kite corralled seven rebounds and Exley registered three points and three rebounds.

The Tigerhawks were 3-of-20 from 3 and 7-of-13 from the foul line and they committed 12 turnovers.