Baxter boys rally past conference rival Colo-NESCO

BAXTER — The Colo-NESCO boys basketball team came into its game against Baxter shooting just 25 percent from 3-point range.

But after making six treys in the first half, the Royals led the Bolts at halftime of their Iowa Star Conference South Division contest.

However, a strong start to the second half flipped the script for Baxter, and the hosts made enough free throws in the final frame to pull out a 64-58 victory.

“They were hot. We had guys on the roster we weren’t going to guard, and those guys came out and hit some 3s,” Baxter senior Perrin Sulzle said. “We knew they’d cool off. But they also got a lot second-chance points, and the first thing that was said at halftime was being better on the boards.”

Baxter rebounded the ball much better in the second half, finished with a 10-board advantage in the game and massive double-doubles from Sulzle and Eli Dee lifted the Bolts to a huge conference win.

The Royals led 18-14 after one quarter and outscored Baxter 16-14 in the second. Colo-NESCO scored 10 of the first 12 of the second and led by as many as 12 in the game.

“They were making everything to begin with,” Baxter assistant boys basketball coach Ryan Travis said. “We knew that wasn’t going to continue. We got in a battle (Monday) and came back from 26 down so they know we can do it. It’s a four-quarter game.”

It was technically the first varsity win for Travis. He filled in for head coach Zach Hasselbrink, who missed the game because of an ejection the night before against North Mahaska.

The Bolts (7-3, 5-1 in the conference) improved to 14-5 against the Royals since 2009. It was Baxter’s seventh straight win in the series.

A pair of putbacks by Cainan Travis and Sulzle tied the game at 4-all early, but seven straight points from the Royals kept the visitors in front the rest of the half.

Dee buried a 3-pointer and nailed a jumper to keep the Bolts close. His two free throws trimmed the margin to four after one.

The Royals made 9-of-27 from 3 in the game and six of those treys came in the first half.

Jack Angell, who came into the game 3-of-20 from deep, started the second with a triple and then Gannon Short extended the Royals’ lead with a 3 and a bank shot.

Trailing by 12, the Bolts rallied behind Sulzle and Dee. A 12-1 run trimmed their deficit to 29-28. Travis opened the spurt with a pair of free throws, Dee made another 3 and Sulzle scored two times inside and once from deep during that stretch.

But the Royals led 34-28 at the break thanks in part to a 3 from Mark Bower, who scored 17 points for C-N in the loss.

“If a team shoots 35 percent but gets three chances one of them is probably going in,” Coach Travis said about the rebounding in the first half. “That was our focus at halftime. No straight line drives and just one shot. We got much better on the boards in the second half.”

The second half belonged to Dee, who came into the game ranked fifth in Iowa and third in Class 1A in scoring at 29.8 points per game.

Baxter opened the final half on a 13-0 run and took a 41-34 lead. That stretch featured four points from Dee and Maddux Tuhn and five from Sulzle.

Dee added a putback and a logo 3 later, but Bower scored the final five points of the frame to keep Colo-NESCO (7-3, 3-3) within two after three.

Dee finished with 31 points and 13 rebounds in the win. Twenty-one of those 31 came in the second half and 12 were dropped in the fourth.

“They were hitting a lot of shots so we just had to lock down and guard everybody,” Dee said. “The offensive rebounds hurt us in the first half so we boxed out better and good things happened.”

Dee opened the fourth with a layup then converted a putback before draining another 3 to push the Bolts’ lead to 59-50. The triple came on Baxter’s third shot of the possession, too.

The Royals had plenty of chances down the stretch to close the gap, but Bower missed three free throws after being fouled on a 3 and C-N couldn’t convert two layups in a seven-point game.

Dee closed out the win with four free throws in the final 23 seconds after missing two with 38 seconds to play.

“Those were two big free throws that I missed, but I’m happy I knocked down the last four,” Dee said. “Them missing three free throws was obviously big. They missed a few layups late, too, so that helped.”

Sulzle had 21 points and 12 rebounds in the victory. Travis tallied six points, seven rebounds and two steals and Tuhn posted four points and three rebounds before fouling out with 3:31 to play in the game.

The Bolts shot 47 percent from the floor, made 5-of-14 from 3 and buried 11-of-15 from the foul line. They also turned the ball over 15 times.

“It’s an effort thing,” Sulzle said about the rebounding improvement. “Do you want to go get the board? Do you want to help your team get another possession? I think we realized we weren’t going to win unless we rebounded better on both ends.”

Short led the Royals with 21 points and nine boards and Bower registered 17 points and six rebounds.

Colo-NESCO shot 35.5 percent from the floor, made 9-of-27 from 3 and committed only eight turnovers.

The Royals entered the game shooting only 49 percent from the foul line. They were 5-of-13 from the charity stripe in the game and went 0-of-4 in the fourth.

Notes: The Bolts came into the game losers of three of their past four games, but Baxter snapped Colo-NESCO’s six-game win streak. … Baxter doesn’t use a deep varsity roster. The Bolts played six guys until Tuhn fouled out midway through the fourth. The Royals also closed their gap a bit with full-court pressure. “We haven’t seen it a ton of this year,” Coach Travis said about the full-court press. “Plus, we ran into some foul trouble and had a few of our ball handlers out. We have enough leaders though who we trust to get fouled and go to the free-throw line. We don’t go too deep, but our kids are in shape, and they don’t want to come off the floor anyway.”

North Mahaska 59, Baxter 57

NEW SHARON — The Bolts shot better from the floor, made one more 3-pointer and had a small advantage from the foul line but lost the battle on the boards and committed five more turnovers than North Mahaska during a 59-57 non-conference road loss on Monday.

The 1A No. 10 Warhawks lost a 26-point lead but held on to win after outscoring the Bolts 17-15 in the final frame.

Baxter trailed by 16 at halftime but rallied to tie the game after three following a 21-5 advantage in the third.

Dee led the Bolts with 19 points, seven rebounds and two assists and Sulzle added 16 points, three rebounds and two steals.

Travis posted 14 points and nine boards, Tuhn tallied three points and four rebounds and Stadan Vansice collected two rebounds and two assists. Dakota Parker finished with five points and two boards off the bench.

The Bolts shot 40.4 percent from the floor, made 8-of-22 from 3 and buried 11-of-14 from the foul line. They committed 15 turnovers.

North Mahaska (11-2) shot 36 percent from the floor, connected on 7-of-29 from 3 and sunk 8-of-13 from the foul line.

The Warhawks also out-rebounded the Bolts 40-27 and committed 10 turnovers.

Gabe Hora scored a team-best 18 points for North Mahaska, and Asher DeBoef added 13 points, 11 rebounds and four steals.