Spartans defeat Rockets on Senior Night
Coming off a big 62-32 victory over West Harrison, the Exira-EHK Spartans boys basketball team brought that momentum into Tuesday’s home game against the Paton-Churdan Rockets, defeating them 71-45.
“I think we’re playing very good basketball right now,” said Spartan Senior Josh Nelson. “We’re limiting the turnovers, playing good defense, and just shooting the ball well.”
Prior to the game, Nelson, Cannon Hansen, and Gideon King were honored for Senior Night.
“It’s pretty much meant everything to me,” Nelson said of his last home game. “It’s my favorite sport. I love to play it. This one probably is going to hurt a little more once I get home sensing this is my last game here, but I love it here, and I wish I could play another one here.”
The Spartan offense got rolling immediately opening the game on a 7-2 run forcing a timeout from Rockets head coach Joshua Cerveny. When play resumed, the Spartans got back-to-back layups from Junior Bryce Brabham as the Spartans led 15-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Nelson connected for a skyhook to begin the second quarter, which he later scored a layup, along with a 3-pointer.
“I think just getting down to the post, kind of starting down low, and then once we establish down low, we got it back out, and that’s when shots started falling,” Nelson said.
The Rockets offense started to surge towards the end of the quarter Sophomores Brody Meyer and Trevon Keely making back-to-back 3-pointers, followed shortly after with a 3-point shot from Sophomore Bryce Stephenson cutting the Spartans lead to 31-28 at halftime.
“We got into a little bit of a funk where we just got out of rhythm and we weren’t moving the ball,” said Spartan Head Coach Tony Santisteban. “We were just settling for outside shots. We needed to move the ball around and get the defense moving, and then we can hit more open shots.”
The Spartans offense took over in the third quarter starting with a 3-pointer from Junior Austin Rasmussen, followed by a mid-range jump shot from Brabham, forcing another timeout from Coach Cerveny. The timeout didn’t phase the Spartans as they went on a 13-2 run blowing the game wide open leading 49-31.
“I just wanted us to play basketball and that’s kind of what we did in the third quarter,” Santisteban said. “Everyone kind of found their groove at the same time and it worked out for us tonight.”
The Spartans continued to roll on the offensive end of the floor in the fourth quarter when Brabham made a 3-point shot, followed by a layup from Rasmussen under the hoop where he was fouled and made the free throw to complete the 3-point play.
The Spartans return to action Friday on the road against the 8-10 CAM Cougars, who are coming off back-to-back wins against Paton-Churdan and Glidden-Ralston. The Cougars are led by Senior Chase Jahde averaging 16.4 points, Junior Collin Bower averaging 12.6 rebounds, and Senior Makade Paulsen averaging 3.1 assists per game.
“Coach Ian Hunt has them playing some good basketball,” Santisteban said. “They’re very tough, they’re very long and athletic. We’re going to have to figure out how to go because we’re not the fastest team in the world. We’ve just got to be ready to play some Spartan basketball and see what we can bring to the Cougars on Friday night.”
