Panther boys run past Mustangs

The Creston boys had their high-flying transition game clicking much of the night in outscoring visiting Shenandoah Tuesday night, 64-31.

Jake Hoyt scored 15 of his game-high 21 points in the first half as the Panthers staked a 32-17 lead at the break. The pace was torrid to start the second half with an 11-0 run extending the lead to 43-17. After the 22-6 third quarter, coach Bryce Schafer relied mostly on reserves to finish out the 33-point victory.

Shenandoah fell to 0-4 in the Hawkeye Ten Conference and 4-9 overall, while the Panthers improved to 3-3 in league play and 3-6 overall.

“We accomplished some good things,” Creston coach Bryce Schafer said. “One of our keys before the game was transition points. They aren’t a very good transition defensive team and we needed to take it to them.”

Hoyt had nearly half of the team’s 32 points at halftime and point guard Cael Turner had eight of his 16 points at the break. Hoyt had a big overall game with a team-high eight rebounds and five steals. Turner, who announced Wednesday he plans to play football at Northwest Missouri State University, led the team with four assists and five steals.

“Jake is the kind of player that if he’s scored on, he locks in offensively and responds on that end,” Schafer said. “Cael is understanding what we need from him and trusting his teammates. He can be someone who scores 18 or 20 points on a given night, which is great, but what we really needed is for him to be a better facilitator and he’s doing more of that now.”

Davidson ended with seven rebounds and nine points, including a breakaway slam dunk near the end of the third quarter to give the Panthers a 54-20 lead during the team’s 22-point period. Creston finished the game with 16 steals.

The Panthers sank four 3-pointers in the second half, including two each by starting forward Parker Varner and freshman reserve guard Rhett Driskell.

The Panthers travel to Carroll Friday to take on 11-1 Kuemper Catholic, the fifth-ranked team in Class 2A by the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s rankings for postseason seeding. The Knights topped Clarinda Tuesday night, 80-44, to improve to 5-0 in the Hawkeye Ten.

Schafer hopes his team can duplicate a strong running game and use matchups advantages by the 6-4 Davidson, 6-3 Hoyt and 6-4 Lucas Rushing around the rim. Kuemper has shown strong guard play this season.

“They only have one loss to Carroll High by one point in overtime in the first game of the season,” Schafer said. “They beat St. Albert 101-51. What makes them good is that they have three guys shooting 45 percent from the 3-point line. Carroll is a good defensive team and they have size, so they were able to counter those threes with a lot of buckets inside and getting to the line.”

SHENANDOAH (31) — Totals (FG FT PTS) — 12 4-10 31. Camden Lorimor 4 1-2 11, Dalton Athen 3 1-2 7 Joey O’Rourke 2 2-4 6, Seth Zwickel 1 0-0 3, Ayden Johnson 1 0-0 2, Cole Graham 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals — 3 (Lorimor 3). Team fouls — 11. Fouled out — None.

CRESTON (64) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 27 4-9 64. Jake Hoyt 9 2-3 21, Cael Turner 6 1-2 14, Tony Davidson 4 1-1 9, Rhett Driskell 2 0-0 6, Parker Varner 2 0-0 6, Gavin Millslagle 1 0-1 2, Brayden Schoon 2 0-0 4, Lucas Rushing 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals — 6-24 (Varner 2, Driskell 2, Turner 1, Hoyt 1). FG shooting — 27-61 (44.3 percent). Rebounds — 31 (Hoyt 8, Davidson 7, Varner 7, Turner 3, Schoon 3). Assists — 15 (Turner 4, Varner 3, Hoyt 3, Davidson 2, Tommy Sand 2). Steals — 16 (Turner 5, Hoyt 5, Driskell 2). Turnovers — 12. Team fouls — 13. Fouled out — None.