Wolves lose close battle to Big Reds

Friday night at home, the IKM-Manning Wolves boys basketball team got off to a slow start trailing 8-0 against the Missouri Valley Big Reds, which led to a 59-47 loss for their fourth loss of the season.

“You’ve just got to keep pushing forward,” said Wolves Head Coach Keith Wagner. “There’s a lot of season left. You’ve got to keep working and trying to get better. Hopefully we respond next week and play good basketball.”

The Big Reds offense came out of the gate with a hot start going on an 8-0 run with buckets from Juniors Brayden Neill and Ryder O’Dowd, along with a 3-point shot from Senior Jon Soetmelk before Wagner called a timeout.

Wolves Junior Isaac Blackman got the Wolves on the board with their first basket of the night, followed by a shot at the basket from Junior Jace Starman cutting the Big Reds lead to 10-4. Blackman made another basket before the conclusion of the quarter, but the Wolves still had an uphill battle in front of them trailing 16-7.

Wolves Sophomore Brock Kusel opened the second quarter with a basket, but O’Dowd answered back. Following O’Dowd’s shot, Blackman caught fire making seven shots before halftime, five of which were from 3-point range putting his team back in front 31-26, giving him 23 points at the half.

“Isaac brought us back,” Wagner said. “He shot the ball well the first half. They [Big Reds] were not guarding him and concentrating on other guys.”

When the third quarter began, Missouri Valley opened with an 8-0 run before the Wolves put a stop to their run almost midway through the quarter with free throws from Junior Ben Ramsey. Blackman later made two free throws to give his team the lead back, but the Big Red offense got it right back when Junior Layton Maasen made a 3-pointer giving his team a 43-41 lead entering the final quarter.

The fourth quarter was dominated by the Big Reds offense starting with a 3-pointer from O’Dowd, which was later followed by back-to-back shots from Senior Mason Herman and Junior Daxton Myler. Ramsey managed to make a few free throws, including the final shot of the game, but the Wolves dropped their first game of the second half.

The Wolves return to action Tuesday against Western Iowa rival, the 1-5 AHSTW Vikings. The Vikings are led by Senior Luke Sternberg averaging 19.8 points and three assists per game, along with Junior Kaden Jorgensen averaging 6.8 rebounds per game.

“We have to be right,” Wagner said. “We have a very small margin for error, so we’ve just got to keep plugging away. We need to get back to school. It seems like every time we play a game where we don’t have school, it doesn’t go very well, but I give Missouri Valley credit. They played better than we did tonight.”