Huge second quarter lifts Baxter boys past Colfax-Mingo

BAXTER — Eli Dee scored 35 points, Perrin Sulzle added 22 and Dakota Parker buried four 3-pointers off the bench.

But Baxter head boys basketball coach Zach Hasselbrink gave the most credit to the Bolts’ best defender during a 93-48 non-conference home win over Colfax-Mingo on Tuesday.

“Ultimately, the biggest difference maker for us the past few weeks has been Stadan (Vansice),” Hasselbrink said. “He’s an unbelievable defender. He makes us go and starts us up defensively. We morphed our defense to fit what he does best because we play at our best when we make it hard for the other team’s best player.”

Colfax-Mingo stayed in the game for most of the first quarter, but the Bolts used a 10-0 run that went into the second and outscored the Tigerhawks 32-5 in the period to pull away for good.

Baxter shot 61 percent from the floor, made 14-of-16 from the free-throw line and turned the ball over only 10 times.

The Bolts grabbed a significant advantage though by forcing turnovers at the other end of the floor.

“We started slow, but our energy on defense got us some easy layups in transition and that got us going,” Dee said.

Dee and Sulzle scored Baxter’s first 14 points of the game but only led 14-10 and 16-12 after Harrison Rhone scored six early points and Wyatt Carpenter scored back-to-back buckets for Colfax-Mingo.

The 10-0 run that seeped into the second started with a pair of free throws from Sulzle. Parker ended the first and started the second with consecutive 3s to push them margin to 26-14.

Rhone ended the run with a pair of free throws, but the Bolts (13-8) used a 14-0 spurt to swell their advantage to 42-16.

“We got down and then we put our heads down and let it get out of control,” Colfax-Mingo head boys basketball coach Michael Hunsberger said. “All of halftime was us telling them we needed them to respond. We saw some better effort in the third.”

The 14-0 run featured nine points from Dee. He started an 8-0 run with back-to-back buckets and a 6-0 run that ended the second included a pair of buckets inside the lane by Logan Rainsbarger.

Rhone scored 12 of his 21 points in the first half, but the Tigerhawks trailed 55-19 at the break.

“You have to defend (Dee) a certain way, and every team has done something different,” Hasselbrink said. “It takes us a quarter to figure out what teams are doing. The slower starts have been like that all year long, really.

“Once we got it figured out, we kind of rolled. But the credit goes to the defensive end more than the offensive end. We got a lot more steals in the second quarter.”

Vansice did not score in the game. He had more steals than shot attempts, but his effort frustrated Rhone and led to easy baskets at the other end of the floor.

The two teams traded buckets in the third until an 11-0 run from the Bolts. The spurt included seven straight from Dee and back-to-back hoops by Sulzle.

Rhone scored seven points in the third, but Parker buried another 3 and Maddux Tuhn connected from deep to end the frame.

“We’ve talked a lot about knowing your roles. Dakota’s a shooter,” Hasselbrink said. “He’s confident and when we see zones, we’ll play him in those spots.”

The Tigerhawks (2-18) outscored the Bolts 13-11 in the fourth. Carpenter scored nine of his 13 in the frame, but Colfax-Mingo finished 2-of-10 from 3 and turned the ball over 20 times.

Dee led the Bolts with 35 points, five assists, five rebounds and six steals and Sulzle tallied 22 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Parker drained four treys and scored a career-high 14 points off the bench, Cainan Travis chipped in four points, four assists and four rebounds and Tuhn collected three points and three boards off the bench.

Vansice, who had three rebounds, four assists and five steals, and Tuhn came off the bench in favor of seniors Rainsbarger and James Esqueda. Rainsbarger scored twice inside for four points and dished out two assists and Esqueda buried a pair of free throws in the fourth for his first career varsity points in his first career varsity start.

“He’s been here for four years, and he gets in early to get his shots up,” Dee said about Esqueda. “It’s nice to see him get his first points.

“(Parker’s) going to be good. He’s getting his confidence back and if he can hit some 3s that’s nice. Guys are going to get open shots. They need to knock them down. He did that tonight.”

Cael Wishman scored three points and grabbed two boards in the fourth, Colten Damman also totaled two boards and two assists, Hayden Burdess scored four points and Liam Trent grabbed three boards off the bench.

The Bolts made 7-of-17 from 3 and grabbed 11 offensive rebounds.

Rhone led Colfax-Mingo with 21 points, seven rebounds and two steals. He was 11-of-11 from the foul line.

The Tigerhawks were 16-of-17 from the charity stripe in the loss but shot only 36.6 percent from the floor.

Carpenter added 13 points and two rebounds, Hostetter chipped in eight points and three boards and Jay posted two rebounds and two steals.

Lewis totaled three points and two assists and Gage Byal dished out two assists.

“I know these games are tough on (Rhone), but we have two games we can go compete in on Thursday and Friday,” Hunsberger said. “We have to pick up our heads, forget about this one and get ready for those.

“We have to find a way to respond better even when the score might not be what we want it to be. We’re going to get there. It’s just going to take some time, but we’ll keep working at it. We’ve had player meetings about how to move forward, what the offseason looks like and how we take steps forward.”

Notes: The Iowa High School Athletic Association released the district brackets for 1A and 2A on Monday. The Bolts received the No. 4 seed out of District 9 and will host fifth-seeded Iowa Valley at 7 p.m. Monday in Baxter. The Tigerhawks open postseason play as the No. 8 seed in District 12 and will host No. 9 seeded Melcher-Dallas at 7 p.m. on Friday in Colfax. “We want to find a way to be playing our best basketball at the end of the year, and I think we are,” Hasselbrink said. “We know who our weapons are, and we have guys who are starting to step up for us, too.”