Ballard stays hot, defeats HCHS 78-54

 HUXLEY (Jan. 21) -- The Harlan Community boys became the latest victim of a red-hot Ballard team Tuesday night, allowing a season high for points in a 78-54 loss to the 10th-ranked (3A) Bombers.
 Ballard, which started the season 2-3, has now won six of its last seven games to improve to 8-4 overall. The Bombers won at top-ranked Carroll by 26 points (68-42) last Tuesday, followed by a 62-60 win at No. 4 Winterset two days later.
 They kept the momentum going against the Cyclones (8-3), making 11-of-24 three-pointers and shooting 51.7 percent overall. Ballard did much of its damage in the second and fourth quarters, outscoring Harlan 23-13 in both stanzas.
 HCHS trailed 41-28 at the half and was unable to mount a serious comeback.
 “Ballard is an outstanding team... so [we knew] this was going to be an extremely tough game,” stated HCHS coach Mitch Osborn. “We played very hard and we ran out of gas from playing the night before at St. Albert. I would have really liked to play them rested with at least one practice to better prep for their matchup zone.”
 The Bombers made all seven of their foul shots and were led by sophomore Ashton Hermann’s 17 points. Mason Murphy finished with 16 points and seven assists, Connor Drew had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Kade Reinertson added 10 points and five boards.
 The Cyclones made only 2-of-10 three-pointers but shot a respectable 46 percent from the field overall. They were led by 12 points from Michael Erlemeier, 11 each from Michael Heithoff and Johnathan Monson, Connor Bruck with seven and Will McLaughlin six.