April 20, 2024

Charity shots boost Mustangs in late charge

By LARRY PETERSON
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Creston's Ian Burns splits two Shenandoah defenders on a drive to the basket during Friday's Hawkeye 10 Conference game here. Burns had four points and two rebounds in the Panthers' 67-63 loss. (CNA photo)

Eventually, Shenandoah’s parade to the free throw line took its toll on Creston’s boys basketball team here Friday in a 67-63 loss to the Mustangs.

Creston led 33-27 at halftime and stretched the lead to nine at 41-21 with 1:24 left in the third period.

Shenandoah got within 41-39 before the end of the quarter on two straight conventional three-point plays (free throw after a basket) by Steven Martin and senior Makonn Anderson, the school’s career scoring leader.

When Cooper McDermott and Kylan Smallwood scored for the Panthers with five minutes to play, Creston held a 48-43 advantage.

From there, Shenandoah closed on a 24-15 run. Twice, after Creston trained by only two points, Shenandoah players grabbed an offensive rebound after a missed Mustang free throw and converted baskets while being fouled. Suddenly, Shenandoah was in front 62-54 with only 57 seconds left.

For the game, Creston was whistled for 28 fouls and the Mustangs went 28-of-36 at the free throw line. The Mustangs had 18 fouls with the Panthers going 12-17 at the line.

Center Tucker Flynn and reserve Deaven Reese fouled out for Creston, and four other Panthers had four violations.

“Free throws were big for us tonight,” said Shenandoah coach Jason Shaffer. “We were making them tonight. That’s good in a hard-fought game like this. Creston has gotten better than when we played them at home. I’m glad our guys responded.”

Creston coach Taylor Phipps said his young team gave a strong effort, but couldn’t overcome the foul issues.

“We did a great job of coming out and being focused and locked in, doing things the right way on both ends of the floor,” Phipps said. “We got a couple of cheap fouls we didn’t need early and that kind of hurts you in the long run. I told our guys that we haven’t quite learned how to finish out games. It’s tough when they’re shooting twice as many free throws. Our kids gave great effort from start to finish.”

During the second half Phipps walked across to the student section after one of the officials raised an issue about a remark she heard during play. Phipps reminded the students they were there to cheer for their team, not to make remarks about the opponent. Officials do have discretion to charge the home team with a technical foul for inappropriate behavior.

“I didn’t think it was anything that was that big of a deal, but I reminded them they were there to support our team,” Phipps said.

Martin went 11-12 at the line and scored 23 points as Shenandoah improved to 9-5 overall and 3-5 in Hawkeye 10 play. Anderson had a triple-double with 20 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists.

Smallwood scored 15 points for Creston, now 3-11 and 1-6 in the conference. Cody Crawford, McDermott and Evan Jacobson also scored in double figures.

Creston is scheduled to play at Glenwood on Tuesday.

CRESTON (63) — Kylan Smallwood 4 6-8 15, Cooper McDermott 6 0-0 13, Cody Crawford 5 1-2 13, Evan Jacobson 4 3-4 12, Deaven Reese 3 0-0 6, Ian Burns 1 2-3 4. Totals — 23 12-17 63. 3-point goals — 5 (Crawford 2, Jacobson 1, Smallwood 1, McDermott 1). Steals — Crawford 4, Jacobson 3, Smallwood 1, McDermott 1, Reese 1, Burns 1. Rebounds — McDermott 7, Tucker Flynn 6, Smallwood 4, Crawford 3. Team fouls — 28. Fouled out — Flynn, Reese.

SHENANDOAH (67) — Steven Martin 6 11-12 23, Makonn Anderson 7 6-9 20, Jake Cerven 2 8-9 12, Ryan Ruzek 3 1-2 8, Austin Fichter 1 1-2 3, Chase Hiser 0 1-2 1. Totals — 19 28-36 67. FG shooting — 19-51 (37.2 percent). 3-point goals — 1-11 (Ruzek 1). Rebounds — Anderson 15, Fichter 7, Ruzek 6. Assists — Anderson 10, Martin 3. Blocked shots — Martin 2, Anderson 2. Team fouls — 18. Fouled out — Devon Perkins.

Creston — 12 33 41 63

Shen — 15 27 39 67

JUNIOR VARSITY

Creston’s JV nearly staged a successful fourth-quarter comeback before falling to Shenandoah, 60-58, here Friday night.

“We were down 10, kind of like the game there when we were down 11,” said Creston coach Todd Jacobson. “We didn’t have a sense of urgency to start the game and got down 6-0, and those points turned out to be pretty important. We just weren’t locked in to start the game.”

Creston was behind by one in the final seconds and fouled Shenandoah with four seconds left. A missed Mustang free throw gave Creston one final opportunity, but a rushed 3-pointer by Cole Higgins went off the rim.

“Our team learned a lot of valuable lessons there,” Jacobson said. “We let six seconds go off the clock to go the full length of the floor to get a shot before we fouled. We learned a lot about late game situations in this one.”

Higgins led Creston with 15 points and Joe Eblen had nine points in the second half.

Creston (58) — Cole Higgins 15, Joe Eblen 9, Brenden McDowell 8, Ian Burns 7, Dustin Merritt 7, Curtis Palmer 4, Lee Normandeau 3, Jeff Dillenburg 3, Deaven Reese 2. 3-point goals — Higgins 2, Dillenburg 1, Eblen 1, Normandeau 1. Free throws — 7-13. Team fouls — 19.

Shenandoah (60) — Mason Silence 16, Matt Shaw 9, Matt Stenzel 7, Dustin Lembrick 7, Kyle Bartlett 6, Josh Simkins 6, Trent Finnegan 5, Trevor Bauer 3. 3-point goals — Bartlett 2, Silence 1, Finnegan 1, Simkins 1, Stenzel 1. Free throws — 14-28. Team fouls — 15.