HUMBOLDT — After struggling mightily to make up an early deficit, Humboldt High’s Cubs ran into a Bullpup-powered buzzsaw in the third quarter Friday.
Keyed by senior standout Camdyn Melchior, Caney Valley outscored Humboldt 28-4 in the period.
Just like that, a six-point margin turned to 30, as the Bullpups cruised to a 70-32 victory.
“They’re good,” Humboldt head coach David Taylor said. “They were a step ahead of us everywhere. They anticipate well on defense, and they anticipated well on offense.”
The Bullpups got out of the gates quickly, building a double-digit lead by the midpoint of the first quarter.
Humboldt’s Conor Haviland gave the Cubs a second-quarter spark, scoring 11 of the Cubs’ 15 points. His layup late in the sliced Caney Valley’s lead to 29-23.
But Melchiori caught fire after intermission, and Humboldt had no answer.
He scored 16 in the quarter as Caney, from inside, outside and everywhere in between.
“He caught fire and they shot the ball well,” Taylor said. “The first three minutes of the second half usually dictates how the second half goes. The first three minutes of the second half definitely dictated how the second half went tonight.”
Haviland wound up with 17 points to lead the Cubs. Briar Orth added eight. Josh Hull pulled down six rebounds.
Melchiori scored 20 for the Bullpups. Trey Richey and Jace Kaminska added 15 and 13.
Caney Valley prevailed, 52-37, in junior varsity action. Levi McGowen scored 11, Trey Sommer 10 and Drake Harrington eight for Humboldt’s JV.
The Cubs prevailed, 40-33, in the C team contest. Sommer scored 14 to lead the way.
Humboldt (9-6) travels to Neodesha Tuesday.
BOX SCORE
Caney Valley (21-10-28-11—70) (FG/3pt): Melchiori 4/2-6-1-20, Cowell 1-0-1-2, Rose 3-1-0-7, Davis 1/1-0-3-5, Scott 0-1-2-1, Rogers 0-0-1-0, Richey 7-1-0-15, Kaminska 6-1-1-13, Sutton 1-0-0-2, Brandon 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 24/4-10-10-70.
Humboldt (8-15-4-5—32): Orth 4-0-1-8, Wilhite 1-0-3-2, Coronado 0-0-1-0, Haviland 8-1-2-17, Meadows 0-1-0-1, Page 0-0-1-0, Hull 1-0-3-2, Lassman 1-0-0-2. TOTALS; 15-2-11-32.
