Creston comeback sinks Glenwood

Creston erased an eight-point fourth quarter lead to hand Glenwood a 46-44 loss in the Rams’ home opener Friday in Hawkeye 10 Conference boys basketball.

The Panthers (2-0 overall, 1-0 in the Hawkeye 10 Conference) out-scored the Rams (1-1 overall, 0-1 in the Hawkeye 10 Conference) 19-7 in the fourth quarter thanks mostly to the clutch shooting of leading scorer Jay Wolfe. The senior scored 11 of his game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter to rally the Panthers.

“He’s their star player and he took over in the fourth quarter and hit some clutch shots,” said Glenwood coach Curt Schulte. “He hit a lot of tough, clutch shots with a hand in his face. He hit some daggers in the fourth quarter.”

Despite the Panthers’ furious comeback, the Rams had the ball down two with 4.9 seconds to go and a chance to win but Ryan Phillips’ three-pointer clanged off at the buzzer.

Glenwood sprinted out to a 17-6 first quarter lead and led for most of three quarters before the Panthers’ rally.

“We got off to a great start, had a real nice first half and jumped on them early,” Schulte said. “We led by eight going into the final quarter and we had some good shots in the quarter but they just didn’t go and they hit some tough, contested shots in clutch situations. They’re a good team. We need to work on our fourth quarter shot selection.”

Alex Nielsen added 10 for the Panthers.

Wyatt Schulz led Glenwood with nine points. Ryan Phillips added seven and Dylan Stouder six.

Glenwood 85,
C.B. Thomas Jefferson 49

The Glenwood boys basketball team overcame a sluggish start with a stifling defensive effort and a balanced scoring attack to down Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson 85-49 in the season-opener for both teams last Tuesday in Council Bluffs.

“It looked like a first game,” said Glenwood coach Curt Schulte after the game. “We had some jitters out there but with just two starters coming back, we had a lot of guys who didn’t have a whole lot of varsity experience so there were some nerves going on.”

After a rugged opening four minutes that saw Glenwood and Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson combined to shoot 3-of-16 from the field and commit 11 fouls, the Rams settled in to take a 23-4 lead at the end of the opening quarter.

“Once we got used to playing under the lights, I thought we did some good things tonight,” Schulte said.

Following the first quarter’s foul fest (21 fouls called in all), the Rams found their stroke in the second quarter. Ridge Fisher’s layup put the Rams up 27-6 on the second possession of the frame and Andrew Blum’s layup with 1:02 to go in the half extended the lead 51-11.

“We scrimmaged A.L. last week and we were concerned we weren’t being aggressive enough so our focus in practice was being physical and aggressive in this game on the boards,” Schulte said. “I think we won the rebounding war by a large margin.”

The Yellowjackets never got closer than 36 points in the second half. The Rams 85 points were the program’s most since scoring 87 in a win over Clarinda Academy Dec. 8 , 2012.

If there was one downside for Schulte is was his team’s defense – specifically the silly fouls.

“Our defense has to be better,” he said. “We can’t be reaching with out hands. We have to move our feet not our hands. That’s something we’ll work on the next few days. Our on-ball defense needs to be better.”

Jake Lewis led four players in double-figures with 19 points. Ridge Fisher added 16, Andrew Blum 12,

Connor Weis 10 and Carter Von Essen seven.

Daniel Carey led T.J. with 17 points.