Cyclones take down Panthers on Senior Night

Senior Jacob Birch scored 18 points leading his team to a 64-55 victory over the Creston Panthers Friday night at home. For the Cyclones, it was a much needed bounce back victory after dropping their previous game to the Denison-Schleswig Monarchs in overtime.

“You just got to take it one game at a time,” Birch said. “We came in, practiced, took it one play at a time and won.”

Before the game, Seniors Jace Gubbels, Brad Curren, Teagon Kasperbauer and Birch were honored by the school for their final season of Cyclone basketball.

“With the seniors, we’ve been playing ball for a long time and it’s great to have those guys with us and we’re going to miss them,” Birch added.

The game open with Junior Franz Reisz dropping the first bucket to give the Cyclones an early lead. It was a back-and-forth affair when the Panthers head coach Bryce Schafer called a timeout halfway through the quarter.

The Panthers took control after that for a little while, putting themselves up by eight, before Cyclones head coach Mitch Osborn called a timeout as the quarter was coming to an end.

Creston took a 23-12 lead into the second quarter. Reisz was fouled to open the second quarter getting the Cyclones off on the right foot. The Panthers made a 3-point shot on the next possession, but soon after, the Cyclones went on a 13-4 run, putting themselves down by just three points.

With less than two minutes to go until halftime, Birch converted a 3-point play tying the game at 30. Schafer called another timeout. The Panthers managed to take a 32-31 lead into the locker room at halftime, but the Cyclones had all the momentum.

“We started playing better defense and taking better shots,” Osborn said. “We started the game with about five or six turnovers and every time we did that, they got a layup at the other end.”

Senior Brad Curren opened the third quarter with a shot that put the Cyclones up by one. Senior Panther Patrick Varner was fouled on a made shot, where he added the extra point, tying the game at 35. The Cyclones instantly took the lead back when Kasperbauer hit a shot from downtown to give the Cyclones a 3-point lead.

The Cyclones opened up the game a little more, taking a 10-point lead into the final quarter. The fourth quarter opened with Senior Panther Ethan Crawford getting the first bucket. A few minutes later, Schafer called a timeout with his team trailing by nine. In the end, the Cyclones got the victory for their 10th win of the season.

“It definitely feels good to win,” Osborn said. “Give Creston a lot of credit as we were down 28-14. Creston is a hard matchup problem for us.”

The Cyclones will be back home Monday night at 7:30 p.m. welcoming the 11-7 Winterset Huskies to town. The Huskies are led by Senior Brayden Dinkla 295 points and 147 assists.

“It’s going to take a total team effort,” Osborn added. “Our defense has got to be solid and we’re obviously going to have to rebound and we got to take care of the ball."

 
 

 

Harlan Newspapers

1114 7th Street
P.O. Box 721
Harlan, IA 51537-0721

(800) 909-6397
news2@harlanonline.com

Comment Here