Wolverines down Stanton at buzzer

At 5-foot-9, Michael Schafer is the smallest starter for the East Mills basketball team.

Against Stanton Friday, the senior guard came up big for the Wolverines.

Schafer’s jumper with just under a minute to go tied the game and his three-pointer at the buzzer won it for East Mills 60-57 in a Corner Conference thriller in Malvern.

Schafer led the way with 24 points for East Mills. He added eight assists, four rebounds and five steals. Mason Crouse and Nolan Smiley chipped in 12 points each and Nic Duysen contributed 10 points and eight rebounds.

Tyler Peterson poured in 24 to lead Stanton.

Fremont-Mills 67,

Clarinda Academy 45

Taylor Reed led four Fremont-Mills players in double-figures with 18 points in the Knights’ 67-45 victory over Clarinda Academy in Corner Conference boys basketball Friday.

The Knights (3-3 overall, 2-1 in the conference) snapped a three-game skid with the 22-points home victory.

Reed connected on 8-of-16 shots and totaled six rebounds to lead the Knights. Jake Malcom added 14 points, Cooper Langfelt 13 and Eli Owen 11.

East Atchison 47,
Fremont-Mills 28

Fremont-Mills scored a season-low in points and dropped its third straight game in a 47-28 road loss Thursday at East Atchison.

The Knights shot just 24 percent (10-of-41) from the field for the game.

Eli Owen scored 13 points to lead Fremont-Mills.

East Mills 47,
Fremont-Mills 43

Michael Schafer scored 19 of his game-high 27 points in a hot shooting second quarter and East Mills held off Fremont-Mills for a 47-43 Corner Conference boys basketball victory last Tuesday in Malvern.

Schafer, hit 4-of-5 three pointers in the second quarter to help East Mill (4-0 overall, 2-0 in the Hawkeye 10 Conference) take a 30-22 lead into halftime. But in the second half, the Wolverines struggled offensively to find the seams in the Knights’ zone. They hit just 1-of-8 second half three’s and were out-scored 21-17 over the final two quarters but were able to hold on for the win.

“They got better against out zone in the second half,” said East Mills coach Kevin Schafer after the game. “They started cutting harder and the few times we left guys alone and they zipped past us and got easy ones.”

Coach Schafer chalked up some of his team’s offensive woes to inexperience.

“We have two guys with varsity experience and number of or guys who were mostly JV (junior varsity) and we have two, sometimes three freshmen on the court. Luckily we were hot in the first half because our inside game was not.”

The Wolverines carried a eight-point lead into the final frame but could not extend it as Fremont-Mills slowly chipped away.

Layups by Taylor Reed and James Switzer and then a free throw by Reed trimmed the lead to 41-38 with just over two minutes to go. The Wolverines struggled to find their touch in the frame, going nearly four minutes without a bucket and seeing second leading scorer Mason Crouse leave with foul trouble.

“Losing Mason with four fouls like we did, you could see our offense really bog down with him on the bench,” Schafer said.

But the Wolverines responded.

A pair of free throws by Jerrett Jentzsch gave East Mills a little breathing room at 43-39 with 1:35 to go. The two teams would trade points over the next minute before two more free throws by Michael Schafer extended the lead out 47-40 with 31.8 to go. The Knights got a three pointer from Jake Malcom with 1.7 seconds left but that was as close as they’d get.

The Wolverines shot just 29 percent from the field (15-of-51) and were out-rebounded 33 to 26 but they went 11-of-18 from the charity strike compared to the Knight’s 2-of-5 mark.

“We handled Woodbine’s zone much better last night,” Coach Schafer said. “We got easy buckets inside. Tonight we struggled like crazy and Woodbine is just as long as F-M. We didn’t attack the gaps as well like we did yesterday.”

Schafer finished 9-of-19 from the field, including 5-of-8 from behind the arc, for his season-high 27. Duysen chipped in eight points and eight rebounds.

Reed paced the Knights with 18 points and seven rebounds. Switzer added 11 points and five rebounds.
    
East Mills 51,
Woodbine 41

Michael Schafer and Mason Crouse combined for 33 points to help carry East Mills to a 51-41 victory over Woodbine last Monday.

Schafer scored a team-high 17 points and dished out four assists. Crouse scored 16 and grabbed two steals. Nic Duysen added eight points and pulled down 12 rebounds.

Wyatt Pryor scored 14 points to lead Woodbine.

Logan-Magnolia 51,
Fremont-Mills 50

Logan-Magnolia out-scored Fremont-Mills 19-14 in the fourth quarter to edge the Knights 51-50 in out-of-conference boys basketball last Monday.

Cooper Langfelt led four Knights in double-figures with 14 points. Taylor Reed added12, Eli Owen 11 and James Switzer 10.

Tre Melby scored 20 points to lead Logan-Magnolia.