Bears' offensive firepower is too much for Cats
LAUREL — The Hartington-Newcastle boys’ basketball team set the pace with Laurel-Concord-Coleridge in the first half, but turnovers in the second half gave the Bears the edge and the 81-57 win to close things out.
“The difference between the first half and the second half was their forced turnovers turned into more momentum, it got their crowd into it, and the basket got bigger as their confidence quadrupled,” said HNS coach Nick Haselhorst.
The Wildcats grabbed the lead in the second quarter and the 1-3-1 defense gave the Bears a lot of issues early on as HNS took a 31-29 lead into halftime.
Wildcats senior Lincoln McPhillips led the way for his team. Coming off a hot game against Homer where he had
his first career triple-double, the senior was quick to work on the road against LCC.
McPhillips finished with 22 points, three assists, and two rebounds, but he hit a few three-pointers at the right time in the second quarter to swing momentum to the visiting side.
In the second half, the LCC Bears started to work against the 1-3-1, and as shooters got hot gaps started to show in the zone.
Bears senior Izac Reifenrath hit eight three-pointers in the night, including seven in the second half on his way to a game-high 32 points. He scored 25 in the second half.
“When I made that first [basket] early in the third quarter I knew I was capable of putting the ball in the basket so I just kept shooting them and it just kept falling.”
Reifenrath was able to catch fire, in part because of his work on defense. He led his team with six steals, including some at key moments in the second half that helped flip the lead in the hometowns favor.
“It was our turnovers that got us into trouble,” said Haselhorst. “It was 45-45, they hit a shot, we turn it over, they hit a three, we turn it over, they go get two points. An 8-0 run in 50 seconds and that is what we knew we couldn’t allow to happen against LCC.”
Last year, these two teams were in the same Subdistrict in Class C2, but Hartington- Newcastle dropped down to D1 this year, so that is off the table. The two can still meet up again though since they are both a part of the Lewis & Clark Conference.
Haselhorst guessed if they did see each other, it could be as early as the second round of the tournament. He went on to say he has confidence if his team does find themselves facing LCC again.
“We know we can play with this team,” said Haselhorst. “We didn’t play well for a four-minute stretch and that cost us the game. If we can put together 32 minutes we know
we can play with anyone, but if we are going to play 24, 25, 26 minutes a game, we are going to struggle come down the stretch of the season when we play these elite teams.”
With the loss, the Wildcats continue to hover near .500, falling back down to 7-7 on the season.
Hartington-Newcastle was next expected to host Crof- ton on Friday but that game was postponed due to winter weather conditions. Instead, HNS next played Plainview on Tuesday.
HNS 11 20 14 12 — 57
LCC 13 16 24 28 — 81
Team Stats H L
FG 22-49 30-60
3PT 8-18 9-27
FT 5-7 12-15
REB 22 36
TO 17 11
SCORING
HNS - Lincoln McPhillips, 22; Sam Harms, 13; Jake Peitz, 10; Shaye Morten, 9; Kobe Heitman, 2; Matthew Meisenheimer, 1. LCC - Izac Reifenrath, 32; Noah Schutte, 28; Ty Erwin, 9; Cael Hartung, 7; Evan Haisch, 5.
REBOUNDS
HNS - Matthew Meisenheimer, 6; Sam Harms, 4; Kobe Heitman, 4; Shaye Morten, 2; Jake Peitz, 2; Lincoln McPhillips, 2; Ethan Lammers, 1; Dylan Dendinger, 1. LCC - Noah Schutte, 17; Cael Hartung, 6; Izac Reifenrath, 5; Ty Erwin, 4; Evan Haisch, 4.
ASSISTS
HNS - Shaye Morten, 5; Kobe Heitman, 4; Lincoln McPhillips, 3; Ethan Lammers, 2; Sam Harms, 2; Matthew Meisenheimer, 1; Jake Peitz, 1; Dylan Dendinger, 1. LCC - Izac Reifenrath, 6; Noah Schutte, 5; Evan Haisch, 4; Ty Erwin, 3.
STEALS
HNS - Jake Peitz, 2; Kobe Heitman, 1. LCC - Izac Reifenrath, 5; Ty Erwin, 3; Evan Haisch, 1.
BLOCKS
HNS - Sam Harms, 2. LCC - Noah Schutte, 3.