HCHS boys hot and cold in split with Rams, Knights

 CARROLL (Feb. 2) -- Hot and cold. Jekyll and Hyde.
 Whatever you call it, the Harlan Community boys basketball team had an up-and-down start to the week against Greene County and Kuemper Catholic.
 On Monday night in Harlan, the Cyclones shot 62.5 percent from the floor, made 12-of-23 treys and led 34-6 after a quarter, soundly defeating the Rams 91-38.
 Then on Tuesday night at Kuemper, the Cyclones shot 27.7 percent, made only 5-of-33 treys and suffered through a three-point second quarter in losing to the Knights 61-47.
 HCHS is now 7-9 overall and will take a 6-3 Hawkeye Ten Conference record into Friday night’s home game with Lewis Central.
 “We were not mentally prepared to play,” said HCHS coach Mitch Osborn after the Kuemper loss. “We had wide open looks against their 3-2 zone and could not knock them down.”
HCHS 91, Greene County 38
 The Cyclones opened the game with a set alley-oop slam dunk play - Michael Erlemeier to Connor Frame - and went from there, taking a quick 22-1 lead and hitting 9-of-13 first-half threes to rout the Rams.
 Frame jammed home a second Erlemeier lob pass as well and scored 18 of his 20 points in the first half. Brad Curren and Aidan Hall had big first halves as well and finished with 22 and 20 points, respectively. Jacob Birch and Franz Reisz both scored eight points off the bench and Isaiah Ahrenholtz had seven.
 Hall and Birch grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, Curren dealt six assists and Frame had five steals.
 Curren led the outside shooting attack by making all five of his three-pointers.
 “Brad Curren is really starting to play like a complete point guard with good decision making to go with nice interior passing off dribble penetration,” Osborn said. “Aidan Hall had some excellent moves and is starting to finish his shots inside, which helps open up the outside. Connor Frame was rock solid at both ends and his decision making and vocal leadership is really helping with everything.
 “This was a good game for our reserves to get some well-deserved playing time.”
 HCHS held a 59-21 halftime lead and scored a season-high 91 points despite a running clock the entire second half. Curren, Frame and Hall combined for 49 first-half points and shot a collective 23-of-29 from the field.
 Greene County (4-12) was led by Max Riley’s 14 points and five rebounds. The Rams shot 28.6 percent.
Kuemper 61, HCHS 47
 Tuesday’s loss didn’t count against Harlan in the H-10 standings, but it was tough to take following back-to-back strong showings vs. Creston and Greene County.
 The host Knights (5-12 overall, 1-8 H-10) started out red hot from the three-point arc, making 6-of-8 in the first quarter to take a 20-15 lead.
 The Cyclones performed better in a zone defense the second quarter but were outscored 9-3. They also scored just three points in the first six minutes of the third and were unable to mount a serious comeback in the fourth as the outside shots simply refused to fall.
 Hall (eight rebounds) and Frame led HCHS with 13 points each, Curren scored nine points and Ahrenholtz added six.
 Kuemper shot 50 percent overall and made 8-of-22 threes. Top scorers included Mitchell Badding with 19 points, Isaac Evans 13 and Dawson Gifford 11.
 HCHS won the first meeting with the Knights, 59-45, on December 8.

Boys Basketball Substate Assignments
Class 3A, Substate 8 - ADM, Atlantic, Clarke, Creston, Dallas Center-Grimes, Glenwood, Harlan Community, Perry.