Rams off to 2-0 start on hardwood

Glenwood picked up its second straight road win to open the season with a 70-53 win over Atlantic Friday in boys Hawkeye 10 Conference basketball.

The Rams (2-0 overall, 1-0 in the conference) led 32-27 at the half and then opened the third quarter on a 24-12 run to pull away.

Risto Lappala led four Rams in double-figures with 18 points. Caden Johnson chipped in 16, Logyn Eckheart 13 and Kayden Anderson 11.

Jackson McLaren and Carter Pellett each scored 13 points to lead Atlantic.

Glenwood 72,
C.B. Thomas Jefferson 60

On a frigid night in Council Bluffs, it wasn’t only the wind that was ice cold.

In a game that was much closer than the final score would indicate, Glenwood got by Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson 72-60 in rock fight of a season-opener that saw the two teams combine for 43 fouls and more than 60 free throws Tuesday night.

Glenwood coach Curt Schulte admitted after the game his team’s offensive performance wasn’t what he hoped for.

“We missed a lot of bunnies, a lot of shots around the basket and we didn’t convert at the free throw line,” Schulte said of his team, who shot 34.9 percent from the field (22-of-63) and 66.7 percent at the line (26-of-39). “We normally shoot it better than that, so we left the door open for quite a while. Give all the credit to T.J. They are well coached and play hard all 32 minutes.”

Both teams got off to slow starts offensively before the Rams wrestled an early lead. But the Yellowjackets’ three-point shooting – 6-of-14 in the first half – and rugged man-to-man defense kept them in it.

Glenwood took a 30-26 lead into the half despite returning leading scorer Caden Johnson’s rough first half that saw him turn the ball over three times and score just a single point.

But the Rams came out determined to let their defense key their offense in the second half. After trading buckets with the Jackets, Glenwood rattled off an 8-0 run to take a 42-30 lead with just over two minutes to go in the third quarter.

As Schulte said, however, his team left the door open and the Yellowjackets sprinted through, rattling off a 13-0 run of their own capped by Jaden Dewaele’s three-pointer to take a 43-42 lead with under a minute to go in the frame. The Rams would claw back to take a 47-46 lead into the fourth.

With the Rams’ struggling to knock down shots from the perimeter, Schulte had his team punch the ball into the post repeatedly in the final frame. Forwards Logyn Eckheart and Risto Lappala combined to score 12 of the Rams’ 25 fourth quarter points almost exclusively on post-ups as Glenwood slowly inched away.

Kayden Anderson, who came off the bench to score 20 points, also came up big in the fourth. He hit a layup and knocked down 6-of-7 free throws in the final 3:02 to ice the win.

The paint points were big in the second half for the Rams, Schulte said, but it was his team’s defense that turned the game.

“Our press created turnovers which obviously created points for us, which was good,” he said. “Our halfcourt defense was pretty good also. Our communication was good. They didn’t have many shots without a hand in their face. I’m proud of our defensive effort.”

Anderson and Eckheart each stepped up and scored 20 points to lead the Rams. Lappala added 15 points and nine rebounds.

“We knew we had an advantage in the post, so we kept going to them,” Schulte said.

That trio’s points we especially big with Johnson’s struggles offensively. The All-Hawkeye 10 Conference guard finished 2-of-14 from the field for six points. He did add eight assists and eight rebounds.

“We have a lot of depth,” Schulte said. “We have guys that can step up and they obviously did tonight. It wasn’t one of his (Johnson’s) best games, but I know he’ll bounce back.”

Jordan Dewaele scored 17 points and Jayden Kapels 15 to lead Thomas Jefferson.