By Mark Schafer | The News-Review
SIGOURNEY – They got to experience both ends of the pendulum last week.
On Monday night they were celebrating one of their most lopsided wins of the season. By Thursday night they driving home in silence as their season came to an end.
The Sigourney boys basketball season came to an abrupt halt last week in the class 1A district semifinals.
Monday night the Savages were all smiles as they were able to make their first round game look easy. The Savages started their post season with a contest against Moulton-Udell, winning that game 80-31.
That contest, largely, was over after the opening 10 minutes.
The post season start seemed to jar something awake for the Sigourney players, especially Solon Yates as he came out and scored 20 points in the first eight minutes of the game against Moulton-Udell. He started off by scoring a pair of inside layups. Then he hit his first three. After that the shots seemed to fall from everywhere, and Moulton-Udell changed their defensive strategy to keep Yates from scoring again.
The shift in the defense by Moulton-Udell just kept the rest of the Sigourney offense fueled.
By halftime the Savages were leading 56-19 and they were able to rest a majority of their starters for most of the second half.
“Anytime you start the tournament with good shooting you are going to be happy with that,” said Mitch Eslick, the head coach for the Sigourney boys basketball team. “Especiually when you’re the favorite in a tournament game, you want to come out and shoot the ball well and don’t let the other team feel like they have a chance.”
Although the Savages would score only 24 points in the second half, they limited the Eagles to just 12 points as the Savages were able to pull away with the 80-31 victory.
“Solon has had a great senior year, he has shot the ball well the entire year, but he really came into his own the last few nights,” Eslick said. “He had a heyday tonight and he could have easily set a new personal record, if not a school record if we would have kept him out there for longer.”
It was a completely dominant night by the Savages. Their varsity roster features 13 players, with 11 of those players recording at least one point in the opening round game.
Yates had 31 points with four rebounds, three blocks, an assist and a steal. Hunter Sellers scored eight points in the game. John Berg and Carson O’Rourke both finished with seven points each.
Ike Molyneux scored five points. Landon Conrad, Chase Clarahan, Jordan Tremmel and Ty Goldman all scored four points each in the game. Brayden Wood finished with three points.
The Savages advanced into the district semifinals where they would take on Montezuma for a chance to move on in the tournament.
Things started off well for the Savages in the second round as well. The Savages were able to lead 11-10 after the first quarter against Montezuma.
The second quarter would prove to be the downfall. Sigourney scored just four while giving up 15 to Montezuma.
That allowed the Braves to take the lead, and they wouldn’t give it up for the rest of the game.
Both teams scored 26 points in the second half, but the Savages weren’t able to make up for their slow second quarter.
The Savages season ended with a 51-41 defeat at the hands of Montezuma.
Ike Molyneux led the Savages with 15 points in the game. He also had two rebounds and four steals.
Brayden Wood added another 11 points. John Berg had a double-double with 14 rebounds and 10 points. Solon Yates was limited to three points and three rebounds. He added five blocks in the game.
The Savages finish the season with an 18-5 overall record.
