By Mark Schafer | The News-Review
 SIGOURNEY – If the first two games are any indication, it seems they are just building momentum.
In the first two games of the season the Sigourney boys basketball team has only seemed to get better. The boys started the season with a 44-24 win over Colfax-Mingo. They then won their next game in a lopsided 70-32 victory over Belle Plaine.
“We struggled in our first game against Colfax-Mingo to just get the game started,” said Sigourney head coach Mitch Eslick. “We looked a lot more comfortable tonight. I think we are still trying to figure things out. It was a step in the right direction.”
Any rust that the Savages had through the off season had been knocked off by the time the Friday night game against Belle Plaine rolled around.
Sigourney scored early and often in the first half. Within the first few minutes of the game John Berg and Solon Yates were leading the Savages, and were on pace to out score the entire Belle Plaine team by themselves.
Sigourney led 25-5 after the first quarter, but they kept the scoring rolling in the second quarter.
Sophomore Hunter Sellers took over the second quarter scoring almost all the points by himself as he was credited with nine points right before half. With the scoring coming from all over, including several Sigourney bench players getting scores, the Savages were able to lead 47-16 at halftime, and would continue to be comfortable for the rest of the game.
“We moved the ball well and made some shots, obviously playing in our gym helps,” Eslick said. “Our offense was miles ahead of where it was last night. I think it is just a matter of time before we get everything clicking like we want it to be.”
Although the Savages only scored 23 points in the second half, a lot of that was because of the first half surge of points which allowed the clock to be continuous throughout the second half, limiting the time both teams had to score.
Berg led the Savages with 22 total points. Yates finished with 14 points. Another 11 points came from Hunter Sellers. Landon Conrad had eight points. Landon Fisch scored five points. Brayden Wood and Carson O’Rourke both finished the game with four points each.
In their win over Colfax-Mingo the Savages started off scoring 16 points in the first quarter. By halftime they had doubled the Colfax-Mingo score, 24-12.
Sigourney scored just 20 points in the second half, but their defense limited Colfax-Mingo to 12 points.
“Any time you can hold teams to under 35 points per game you’re going to have a lot of success from that,” Eslick said about the first two games. “We also know that we have some bigger tests coming up on the schedule. We need to clean up things guarding the ball. We were beat off the dribble a little too much tonight. We have good athletes, and experience. I know we will be able to clean those things up.”
Berg led the scoring on Dec. 4 with 17 points. Yates added 15 points. Wood finished with nine points. Sellers had two points and Fisch finished with one point.
The Savages are 2-0 on the season. This week they play on the road against Lynnville-Sully and Keota.
Photos by Mark Schafer
