Travis hits career scoring milestone in Bolts’ win over GMG

BAXTER — When Treyton Travis began to get ready for the Bolts’ home game against GMG on Tuesday, he discovered something was missing.

“We had a game last night and Cainan threw my uniform in the wash for me,” Treyton Travis said. “In the morning, I forgot to put my stuff into my bag. I didn’t think about it until I went to open my bag here to change and it wasn’t in there. Thankfully, my uncle was on his way here so he stopped by and picked it up for me.”

While Travis’ night started with a minor wardrobe malfunction, it ended with another milestone.

Travis scored 14 of his game-high 23 points in the second half and his final bucket of the night was the 1,001st point of his prep career.

The Bolts trailed by one at halftime but a big second half pushed them to a 62-45 home win over the Wolverines during Iowa Star Conference South Division play.

Travis is the first four-year player in Baxter Bolts history to score 1,000 career points.

“He circled that as a big goal of his at the beginning of the season,” Baxter head boys’ basketball coach Zach Hasselbrink said. “Kudos to him because he hasn’t always been the No. 1 option. He’s played with a lot of great players his entire career, but this year we know he’s going to have a big game or we probably weren’t too successful.”

There were five ties and three lead changes in the first half. Neither team led by more than five points.

Perrin Sulzle scored eight of his 10 points in the first frame to lead the Bolts to a 16-14 advantage after one.

Baxter was held to eight points in the second and trailed 25-24 at halftime. Travis scored six of the eight Bolts’ points.

“Too many easy drives. The half court defense wasn’t all bad, but they were getting out in transition and making us pay,” Hasselbrink said. “That’s what they’re good at. We had a few mental errors and gave up around 12 points in transition in the first half.

“We needed to be in better help position and stay engaged in every possession. If we take away the 12 or so transition points they scored, the conversation is much different at halftime.”

Travis said the Bolts had similar results in the first half against Collins-Maxwell on Monday, too. The halftime chat that night didn’t carry over into Tuesday right away, but a big third quarter helped the hosts create some separation.

Baxter regained the lead with back-to-back buckets inside the lane by Stadan Vansice and Sulzle and then the Travis brothers scored consecutive baskets to make it 32-27.

That started an 11-0 run that also featured a pair of free throws from Eli Dee, another hoop inside by Cainan Travis and a fadeaway jumper and free throw from Treyton Travis.

The final bucket of the third was a Ben Richardson layup that put the Bolts in front 41-31.

Baxter was 0-for-16 from 3-point range in the game. That’s mostly what led to nearly every bucket coming from inside the lane.

“We found the easy shots. We didn’t make a 3 in the game and took less of them in the second half,” Treyton Travis said. “We got to the rim a lot, which was different than how we’ve been scoring the past few games.”

The lead stayed at around 10 until an 8-0 run by the Bolts pushed the margin to 51-37. Half of those points came from the paint from Cainan Travis and Richardson added two free throws and a layup.

Treyton Travis and Richardson scored the remaining Baxter points. Richardson followed a 3-point play from Travis with two more free throws and two more buckets inside the lane from Travis put the game away.

The second field goal was the milestone basket. Richardson, who converted a layup to end the scoring, passed up an open look inside the lane before that to give Travis his 1,000th career point.

Travis did score on the possession before but was called for traveling on what would have been an and-one.

“I would like to thank Ben for giving me the ball there at the end. He could have shot that one,” Treyton Travis said. “I wanted to do it tonight. It was Senior Night and I had a bunch of family in town to watch.

“I thought it was an and one, which would have been cool.”

Hasselbrink said his team forced too many passes inside in the first half. The first big run of the third forced GMG out of its zone defense and the Bolts took advantage of some lobs over the top of the Wolverine defense.

“We know we have two bigs inside so we play a high-low game with them and went to the one who had the better mismatch,” Hasselbrink said. “It worked out beautifully. They didn’t have help on the backside, and it allowed Cainan to get a couple easy buckets.”

Baxter (14-4, 11-0 in the conference) won the third 17-6 and outscored GMG 21-14 in the fourth.

Treyton Travis’ 23 points led four Bolts in double figures. Richardson had 15 points, five rebounds and five steals and Sulzle and Cainan Travis each scored 10 points.

Treyton Travis grabbed seven boards and swiped two steals, Sulzle had 10 rebounds and three blocks and Cainan Travis tallied two steals and three rebounds.

Vansice registered four rebounds and two steals and Dee grabbed four boards.

The Bolts shot 44 percent from the floor despite missing all 16 of their 3s. They were 12-of-17 from the free-throw line.

Jabari Woodbury led GMG (9-10, 6-6) with 14 points, nine rebounds and four steals and Rider Kupka grabbed 12 boards. The Wolverines were plagued by 19 turnovers.

Notes: Richardson’s pass to Treyton Travis for the 1,000th point shows the Bolts’ unselfishness. They also showed an extra bit of love for their teammate after the milestone bucket. “I love the fact that our guys want to celebrate their teammate and are proud of him,” Hasselbrink said. “That’s a big thing he’s work hard for. He’s in the dark shooting at midnight with the shooting machine. It just doesn’t happen and the rest of the guys know how hard he’s worked. It’s a big milestone. It’s something he’ll remember forever, but he also understands he doesn’t do this without the guys around him.” ... Treyton Travis, Richardson, Cody Samson and Logan Jones were all recognized before the game for Senior Night.

Baxter 74, Collins-Maxwell 61

The Bolts started fast and made nine 3s during a 74-61 home win over rival Collins-Maxwell on Monday.

Treyton Travis posted a double-double, Dee made 6-of-12 from 3 and the Bolts led 39-23 at halftime.

The Bolts shot 46.8 percent from the floor, made 9-of-26 from 3 and connected on 7-of-11 from the foul line.

Treyton Travis led the Bolts with 25 points, 10 rebounds and two steals and Dee splashed home 22 points.

Sulzle dished out a career-best eight assists and tallied 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. Cainan Travis chipped in eight points, nine rebounds and two assists, Richardson posted five points, two rebounds, four assists and three steals and Vansice grabbed four rebounds.

Cooper Wierson led the Spartans (8-12, 6-6) with 16 points, five rebounds and four assists and Lane Oswalt grabbed 12 rebounds.

Collins-Maxwell shot 35 percent from the floor, made 7-of-22 from 3 and missed both of its free throw attempts.