Wolverines rally on road to down Fremont-Mills, 52-43
It was win number three for East Mills and number 400 for Coach Kevin Schafer Tuesday.
The Wolverines used a 12-2 second half run to rally past Fremont-Mills for its third win in as many tries in the 52-43 victory and, in the process, notched Schafer’s 400th career coaching victory.
The game, which the Wolverines did not lead in until late in the third quarter, had the intense feeling of a January Corner Conference match up.
“I think both teams felt like we were pretty even teams,” Schafer said. “I don’t think either team shot it particularly well so when we meet again it might be a totally different game and we’ll have to shoot it better.”
The Knights (1-1 overall, 1-1 in the Corner Conference) built a lead that reached 12 in the first half and was 26-18 at halftime thanks to some sharp outside shooting – 5-of-9 from behind the arc – and decided rebounding edge.
But the Wolverines would begin to claw back into almost immediately to open the third quarter. An 8-1 run cut the F-M margin to 27-26 with 3:33 to go in the frame.
Anthony Rainey’s three pointer from deep in the left corner tied the game at 29-29 and Pedro Rogozzo’s free throw with just under two minutes to go in the third gave East Mills its first lead of the game.
East Mills carried a slim 32-31 lead into the final frame but a lead they would never relinquish. A three pointer by Trevor Glockel, a layup by Rogozzo and a pair of free throws by Michael Schafer extended the margin to 39-31 with just over four minutes to go.
The Knights would battle back to cut the lead to 41-39 with 2:40 to go but that was as close as they would get.
After the way his team played in the first half, Schafer said they were lucky to get back in the game like they did.
“They’re very athletic and they attack the rim very well,” Schafer said of Fremont-Mills. “They missed some bunnies down low as well. They killed us on the boards in the first half.”
Defensively, the Wolverines played a 2-3 zone almost exclusively, daring the Knights to shoot over them. The first half, F-M had success with that. The second half, the shots didn’t fall and the driving lane evaporated.
“We’ve run some of that in match up (zone) the last few years,” Schafer said. “We don’t want to run anything that’s too complicated so we’re trying to simplify things. Having Pedro in the middle we can prevent some of the dribble penetration. He doesn’t have to block shots, all he has to do is put his hands in the air and take some body contact to throw shots off.”
Rogozza led East Mills with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
“Pedro did a better job rebounding for us in the second half,” Schafer said. I told him he had to do a better job of that. You can’t just hope the ball lands in your hands. We needed him to go get it and he did that in the second half. He’s a good shooter but sometimes he rushes it and pushes the ball. He was more active in the second half offensively too. They made it a lot easier for the whole team offensively.”
Michael Schafer added 10 points and Duysen eight for East Mills.
Coach Schafer, in his 29th year as a head coach, all at Nishna Valley and East Mills, deflected credit when reminded of his career wins milestone.
“I’m well aware the players through the years won 400,” Schafer said, before acknowledging former assistant coach Dave Bowens and current assistant Jim Doyle for their help.
Eli Owen led Fremont-Mills with 15 points.
Stanton 70,
East Mills 53
Drake Johnson and Stanton proved too much for East Mills in 70-53 Viking victory Friday night in Corner Conference boys basketball.
Johnson scored a game-high 29 points and Donnie Weis 15 to hand the Wolverines their first loss of the season after a 3-0 start.
Pedro Ragozzo led Stanton with 25 points. Riley Story added
Fremont-Mills 77,
Clarinda Academy 57
Fremont-Mills had four players score in double-figures in a 77-57 Corner Conference boys basketball victory over Clarinda Academy Friday.
The Knights (2-1 overall, 2-1 in the conference) entered Friday’s road tilt coming off a tough 52-43 home loss to rival East Mills in game they led for two and a half quarters.
Fremont-Mills coach Steve Raymond said his team didn’t let one loss turn into two.
“It’s always frustrating to lose a game but we moved on pretty quick from that East Mills game,” Raymond said. “They knew it was a hard fought game but we need to continue to improve and we came in last week’s practices with a workmanlike attitude to get better.”
Fremont-Mills showed how much better they were almost immediately as they got off to a fast start with a 23 point first quarter and a 43-17 halftime lead. For the game the Knights shot just over 40 percent (27-of-66) but recorded assists on 20 of their 27 made field goals.
“That’s difference for us in wins and losses right now,” Raymond said of his team’s efficient offense in Friday’s win. “The two games we’ve won we moved the ball and were patient on offense and worked inside out and executed. When we don’t do that we stall out.
“That was a big focus for us coming into this game. We didn’t want any one pass and shot possessions. We wanted to make sure to get the ball to the third, fourth or fifth side of the floor.”
Mason Vanatta led all scorers with a season-high 22 points. Eli Owen added 19 and Dylan Chambers and Cooper Langfelt poured in 12 and 10 each, respectively.