Baxter boys rally past Collins-Maxwell, fall to West Fork

BAXTER — It’s been a few years since North Tama defeated the Baxter boys’ basketball team on a last-second shot in the postseason.

But Monday’s Class 1A District 6 quarterfinal matchup between rival Collins-Maxwell had the same kind of feel.

The Bolts trailed the Spartans by eight at halftime and didn’t take their first lead until Perrin Sulzle scored inside with 4:47 to go in the game and then a 16-0 run put Collins-Maxwell away for good during a 66-59 home win.

“We didn’t do anything different. That’s just what we are supposed to do the entire game,” Baxter head boys basketball coach Zach Hasselbrink said. “For whatever reason, we didn’t get the energy the entire game that we got for that two-minute stretch in the fourth.”

North Tama’s last-second jumper eliminated Baxter 43-41 in the 2020-21 season. Monday’s game had a similar feel despite the Bolts defeating the Spartans by double-digits in their first two meetings.

The key stretch of the game for Baxter started late in the third and carried into the fourth.

A Ben Richardson layup started the 16-0 spurt in the third. The Bolts began the fourth with 14 straight points that took them from being down four to up 10 with about 3 minutes to go in the game.

Sulzle opened the fourth with a bucket inside and then scored and got fouled later to give the Bolts their first lead.

Cainan Travis’ best stretch of the game came during the game-deciding run as his six points on baskets inside the lane put the Baxter in front by 10.

The run was triggered on the defensive end as steals at one end led to layups at the other.

“We just didn’t play very good defense until that stretch in the fourth,” said Sulzle, who scored a career-high 28 points. “That’s what it should look like all the time and hopefully we can do that on Thursday, too.

“We got yelled at at halftime. It took a bit to kick in, but we were able to get it going in the fourth.”

Collins-Maxwell (8-14) led 5-2 early and then led by as many as seven in the frame.

The Bolts couldn’t carve all the way through the deficit until the fourth. The Spartans eventually went up eight on a drive to the bucket by Josef Dvorak and then Austin Hennick answered a Richardson 3-pointer with one of his own to put C-M in front 24-16.

Sulzle keep Baxter close. His first 3 of the night closed the gap to 28-24 and then he buried two free throws to make it 30-28.

But the Spartans closed the period on an 8-2 run to go up 38-30 at the break.

“That was about as bad as we could play defensively,” Hasselbrink said. “Bad rotations. Bad switches. We let too many things inside. Then we collapsed and they got some good looks from 3.

“Credit to them. They moved the ball well and took what we were giving them, but we just didn’t defend them very well. It was a big conversation at halftime.”

The Bolts (16-5) couldn’t get closer than eight until Travis scored twice inside to make it 43-39. And then Sulzle drained another trey to close the margin to 43-42 with 4:30 to play in the period.

But, the Spartans stayed in front by closing the quarter with an 8-3 run.

The 16-0 run that put Baxter in front for good featured six points from Travis, four from Sulzle and two apiece from Richardson and Treyton Travis.

Baxter’s best defensive sequence of the night came during the run and it featured back-to-back steals, a block by Sulzle and a charge taken by Richardson.

Sulzle and Treyton Travis combined to go 5-of-8 from the free-throw line in the final minute to close out the victory.

“That two minute stretch was the difference in the game,” Hasselbrink said. “When they bring it like that, they can be a scary group. That’s the way we want to play. We can control the effort and we got great effort for about two minutes.”

A lot of Sulzle’s success came on passes from the short corner to the low post on sharp cuts to the hoop. The junior post added eight rebounds and two steals to his statistical line and he was 11-of-16 from the floor.

“We’ve ran it every time we’ve played them, but I just didn’t have a very good shooting game the last time out,” Sulzle said. “My teammates are great at finding me from the short corner.

“It’s hard to beat a team three times. They know us well. It would have been really bad to cut down the nets after a loss.”

The Bolts cut down the nets after the game to celebrate a third straight conference championship. Baxter went undefeated in the Iowa Star Conference South Division for the second straight winter.

Baxter defeated Collins-Maxwell three times this season, winning 78-52 and 74-61 in conference play.

“This is the most success they’ve had against us,” Hasselbrink said. “We know they have some dangerous kids. They made us force help and did a lot of good things. They made 3s we thought they could make, but we also thought we had a game plan to cover it up.”

Treyton Travis finished with 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals and Cainan Travis put in 13 points. Richardson added seven points, four rebounds and three steals.

Stadan Vansice chipped in three points and four rebounds and Eli Dee registered three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

The Bolts shot 42 percent from the floor, made 5-of-21 from 3 and buried 13-of-21 from the free-throw line.

Dvorak led Collins-Maxwell with 14 points and seven rebounds, Hennick put in 14 points and Ian Beattie tallied nine points and seven rebounds.

The Spartans made 46 percent of their shots from the floor, buried 9-of-21 from 3 and connected on 6-of-9 from the foul line.

West Fork 64, Baxter 47

SHEFFIELD — A slow start plagued the Bolts against West Fork during a district semifinal game on Thursday.

Baxter trailed 18-8 after one and never recovered during a 64-47 season-ending road loss.

Baxter won just one quarter in the game, outscoring the Warhawks 17-16 in the third. West Fork won the second and fourth 15-11.

Treyton Travis led the Bolts with 13 points, two assists, three steals and two blocks and Dee had 13 points, two rebounds and two steals.

Cainan Travis added 10 points, four rebounds and two blocks, Sulzle chipped in eight points and six rebounds and Richardson tallied three points and five boards.

The Bolts shot 41 percent from the floor, made 6-of-17 from 3 and connected on 5-of-11 from the foul line. They turned the ball over 16 times.

Cayde Eberling had a game-high 23 points and Sage Suntken finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and four steals. Jack Ward and Gavin Cronk both scored 10 points and Cronk grabbed 11 rebounds.

The Warhawks (19-4) shot 42 percent from the floor, made 5-of-11 from 3 and buried 13-of-15 from the foul line.