Glenwood picks up pair of wins over Hawkeye 10 foes
Solid defensive play and balanced scoring propelled Glenwood to a 58-53 Hawkeye 10 Conference road victory over Harlan Saturday afternoon.
The win improved the Rams’ record to 11-2 overall and 6-1 in Hawkeye 10 Conference play.
“That’s a big conference game,” Glenwood coach Curt Schulte said. “That was our eighth win in a row so we’re probably playing our best basketball right now.”
Glenwood took a 10-point lead into the fourth quarter and held off a late Cyclone charge in the final eight minutes to come away with the win.
“They (Harlan) did a good job of hitting some big shots in the fourth quarter,” Schulte said. “I would have liked to see us make free throws better down the stretch. We were only seven-of-18 from the free throw line and a lot of those (misses) came in the fourth quarter. We’re typically a much better free-throw shooting team and we kind of let them hang around in the fourth quarter.”
Free throws aside, Schulte said he was pleased with the play of his team at both the offensive and defensive ends of the court.
“I thought we did a really nice job of taking care of the basketball. I thought our defense was pretty solid and offensively I thought we shared the ball really well – we ended up with 15 assists in the game,” he said. “Those were the three keys right there.”
Christian Stanislav scored 12 points and Jack Hughes tallied 11 points to pace Glenwood’s offensive attack. Dax Lappala, and Ryan Blum both contributed nine points, while Zach Carr and Ryan Leath scored eight and six points respectively.
“That’s pretty tough to defend when you can have six guys between 12 and six points,” Schulte said. “Jack Hughes, he came in off the bench. He was huge for us, knocking down three three-pointers. He had 11 points off the bench for us. That was his career high.”
Schulte also singled out Leaf for his defensive play.
“I’m real proud of Ryan Leath. He did heckuva job defensively for us,” he said. “He held (Brett) Sears, their leading scorer to only eight points. That was nine points below his season average.” He did heckuva job defensively for us.”
Harlan, who fell to 9-5 overall and 6-3 in Hawkeye 10 play, was led by Connor Bruck who scored a game-high 19 points.
Glenwood 74,
Red Oak 38
Glenwood built a 20-point lead in the first half en route to a 74-38 conference win at Red Oak last Tuesday, Jan. 15.
Red Oak began the game with back-to-back three-pointers from Carter Bruce before Glenwood took over and dominated the game. After Red Oak’s first six points, the Rams went on a 17-4 run to finish the first quarter with a seven-point lead.
The Rams scored often and quickly in the second quarter, pulling away with the help of defensive pressure. The Rams led 42-22 at halftime.
“I thought our intensity was pretty good,” Schulte said. “Defensively, we like to pressure and mix it up in the full court and half court. I thought we did that well tonight.”
Glenwood started the second half on a 10-0 run, and held the Tigers to just eight points, including a three-pointer at the buzzer by Carter Bruce to end the frame 65-30.
“I think the key for us tonight was jumping off to a 10-0 run to start that third quarter and enlarging that lead,” Schulte said. “I thought coming out of halftime, we had good intensity, good energy.”
The Rams continued to pull away in the fourth quarter, allowing only eight points for the Tigers.
“We are not concerned with the score, we are concerned with getting better, staying fundamentally sound, and taking care of the ball,” Schulte said. “Defensively, we want to contest shots and keep everybody in front. We rebound pretty well; we’ve got guys that position themselves well for rebounds.”
Carr led three Rams into double-digit scoring with 22 points. Stanislav and Blum had 18 points each.
Stanislav had eight of the team’s 32 rebounds; Lappala passed out six assists and recorded three steals.
Kobe Johnson led the Tigers with 14 points. Bruce added 12.
“Last game, they really got out and ran in the second half, and we held them better this time,” Red Oak coach Dan Pollock said. “Defense is tough to play against Glenwood. It’s almost impossible to stay in front of some of those kids like Blum and Carr especially. Anytime you hold off on a guy, Glenwood knows how to attack that.
They are going to come out physical and attack; they have the depth to do that.”
Glenwood’s game at Harlan Saturday started a tough stretch for the Rams where they’ll play four games in seven days. Glenwood was scheduled to play at Omaha Roncalli on Monday night and Clarinda on Tuesday before hosting Omaha Skutt Catholic on Friday night. Roncalli and Skutt are No. 6 and No. 2 respectively in the Nebraska Class B state rankings.