Treynor holds off Vikings in battle for WIC lead

 AVOCA (Feb. 1) -- Treynor gained the inside track for a WIC title Monday night, holding off second-ranked AHSTW 68-64 in an entertaining Western Iowa Conference boys basketball game.
 A potentially huge rubber match, though, may still be lurking down the district tournament road.
 Trailing 36-25 at halftime, AHSTW opened the third quarter with a ferocious 13-0 run to take its first lead since it was 11-9.
 Treynor responded with the next six points, however, including two offensive putbacks, and led the rest of the way to earn a split in the regular season series.
 The unranked Cardinals improved to 14-3 overall and 13-1 in the WIC, taking over sole possession of first place. The Vikings dropped to 16-2 and 11-2, respectively. Both teams turned around and won league games Tuesday.
 If the two rivals meet again, it will likely be in a Class 2A district final later this month.
 AHSTW head coach G.G. Harris summed up his team’s situation by answering his own questions.
 “Do we want to win a conference title? Absolutely. Do we have much bigger goals? Absolutely,” Harris said.
 “Honestly, until a couple years ago when we won the WIC I didn’t realize how important that was. Our focus is playing our best basketball at the end of February. Thank goodness this is the beginning. We’ve got plenty of time. We’ve got a lot of trust and confidence in these guys. These guys are ready to get back to work.”
 Both teams battled foul trouble in Monday’s clash and both came out perhaps too amped up, leading to missed layups and sloppy play in the early going.
 The Vikings led 5-0 more than four minutes in, but the Cardinals quickly made up for lost time with 14 points in a span of 2:25 and led 17-13 after one.
 The second quarter was tightly contested most of the way before Treynor closed on a 9-2 run to take an 11-point lead at halftime.
 Poor free throw shooting (4-of-11), too many turnovers and allowing Treynor a high number of offensive boards and drives to the basket all contributed to AHSTW’s first-half deficit.
 The Cardinals finished the night with 17 offensive rebounds and were plus-14 on the glass (46-32).
 “I thought we took care of the ball well enough to win; not great, but well enough to win,” Harris said. “The (rebounding and free throws) - you’re not going to win games giving up offensive rebounds like that and then offensive rebounds that lead to points.
 “It’s not like we don’t talk about it, but talking about it can only go so far. We have got to start doing the things that are necessary to win these big games. We got to the line plenty in the first half and we did not capitalize. You put yourself in a position like that against a good team that plays hard, it’s going to be tough.”
 The Vikings emerged from the locker room like a team on a mission and needed just three minutes of game time to erase Treynor’s 36-25 lead. AHSTW hit the Cardinals with a half court trap and forced a quick flurry of turnovers that helped feed the 13-0 run.
 “We’re capable of doing that and I was extremely pleased,” Harris said. “When they called the timeout, (I said), ‘This is fun.’ That was some of the most fun I’ve had in a long time. I mean, that’s a good team.”
 Once the Cardinals got their bearings again, they were tough to deal with. Tim Timmerman’s long three-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer put Treynor up four and an 8-0 run early in the fourth made it 54-44.
 Raydden Grobe and Kyle Sternberg kept the Vikings close by posting 20 of the team’s 22 fourth-quarter points, but the Cardinals always found a way to score when they really needed a bucket. Sternberg made it a one-possession game three times in the final 1:30 before Sid Schaaf’s two free throws sealed the outcome with :01.6 remaining.
 AHSTW had two players foul out in the fourth period, including point guard Cole Scheffler at the 6:53 mark after he picked up his fourth foul - then a technical foul - on the same play.
 “We struggled with some foul trouble,” Harris added. “The guys that stepped in really did a nice job of keeping (us) in the game; at least an opportunity to make it a one-possession game, and then (Treynor) knocked down free throws. Credit to them.”
 Timmerman and Schaaf scored from both inside and outside and led the Cardinals with 18 points apiece. Noah James finished with 10 points, Blake Sadr had nine (all in the first half) and Thomas Schwartz added eight points and seven assists.
 Timmerman (14 boards), James (11) and Schaaf (10) all posted double-doubles, combining for 35 rebounds.
 The Vikings were led by Grobe with 27 points, Sternberg 21 (15 after halftime) and Brayden Lund 10. Nick Denning, Scheffler and Jace Peterson all scored two.
 Sternberg’s 10 rebounds gave him a double-double as well while Grobe and Lund both grabbed seven boards. Scheffler had four assists and Grobe added four steals and three assists.
 Both teams shot just below 43 percent from the field and exactly 50 percent at the line. AHSTW had 15 turnovers and Treynor had 19.
 The Vikings, who won an overtime game at Logan-Magnolia Tuesday, 67-61, will host a tough Underwood team on Friday night.