Cyclones eliminate Titans in first round victory
In a game that was back-and-forth for three quarters, the Cyclones pulled ahead for good in the fourth quarter en route to a 54-43 first round tournament victory over their rival, the Lewis Central Titans. Junior Franz Reisz led the way for the Cyclones with 15 points.
“It’s always good to beat LC,” Reisz said. “We just came out and kind of started off flat, but we just got over the hump and played really well.”
The Titans opened the game on an 8-0 run, including buckets from Juniors Nash Paulson and Jackson Larsen.
Sophomore Jozef Reisz finally put the Cyclones on the scoreboard almost four minutes into the game. Franz Reisz then hit his first shot of the game to cut the Titans lead to 8-4.
With 0.3 seconds to go in the quarter, Junior Will Arkfeld was fouled, sending him to the line where he made 1 of 2 free throws and put his team down 8-7 entering the second quarter.
Senior Teagon Kasperbauer opened up the second quarter with a jumper that gave the Cyclones their first lead of the night at 9-8. Both teams exchanged baskets until Arkeld hit a clutch 3-pointer to put the Cyclones up 19-16.
“I just got to try and keep that energy flowing, keep the game moving, keep us scoring and stay strong on defense,” Arkfeld said.
Just before the second quarter ended, Harlan had the ball for the last shot and a wide open Kasperbauer hit a shot from downtown that got the crowd to its feet and gave the Cyclones a 24-19 lead heading into the locker room.
“He [Osborn] just said lock up on defense and keep scoring,” Arkfeld added. “Get some good offensive possessions going.”
Both teams were locked in defensively to start the second half. [Franz] Reisz scored the Cyclones first points of the half on a rebound put-back followed by a 3-pointer from Arkfeld. Reisz added a layup to widen the Cyclone lead by 8 points.
A few more buckets were exchanged with the Cyclones were hanging onto a 5-point lead heading into the final quarter.
Junior Titan Luke Woltmann was fouled to open the fourth quarter, making both free throws and putting his team down by 3, the closest the Titans would be for the rest of the game.
In the fourth quarter, the Cyclones tightened their defense and constantly drove to the hoop, keep Lewis Central on the ropes.
Senior Jace Gubbels and Reisz continued to grab contested rebounds and with two minutes to go, Kasperbauer clinched it by swishing a fadeaway jumper to put Harlan up 50-36.
“We knew it was going to be a very physical game,” said Cyclones Head Coach Mitch Osborn. “A very tough battle as Lewis Central is a very physical team. Give Okerbloom credit, he makes four 3’s. Nash [Paulson] hits two to start off the game and our game plan was to make sure to identify him and we did a better job after that. Defensively, holding them to 43. I’m very proud of our guys.”
The Cyclones will play the 15-7 Glenwood Rams in the 3A-8 Second Round game Thursday on the road at 7 p.m. The Rams are led by Seniors Risto Lappala with 305 points, Logyn Eckheart with 157 rebounds and Caden Johnson with 145 assists.
“Whoever you play, it’s going to be extremely tough,” Osborn said. “They are a very balanced scoring team. They obviously have a great point guard. Logyn Eckheart is a big guy in the middle. They have a lot of experience and are very physical.”