HUMBOLDT — The Humboldt High boys and girls split a pair of home matchups against Neodesha Tuesday night.
The Cubs (14-2) got behind 17 steals and scored most of their points in transition while Sam Hull slammed down four more dunks in a 73-32 drubbing win. The Lady Cubs (7-9) began the night with the lead but took their foot off the gas in a 56-40 loss.
Cubs
Humboldt head coach David Taylor said at the beginning of the season, “If you don’t play defense, you don’t play on my team.”
Taylor can rest assured the boys got the message. It seemed like all of the Cubs’ first half points came in transition after a steal on the other end.
Hull and Blake Ellis each made a team-high four steals. Hull took advantage of Neodesha’s lackluster offense when he made a splashy dunk to the delight of the Humboldt crowd.
“Defense spurs our offense. We’ve been harping that it all starts on the defensive end and the last two games we’ve really understood that,” Taylor said. “It’s really helped them be successful. We have the most confidence when we’re defending.”
It wasn’t ever really much of a game.
Humboldt jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the opening minutes before quickly stretching the advantage to 15-3 on Hull’s second dunk only midway through the first quarter. Other points in transition included Ellis and Trey Sommer going for layups.
Humboldt led Neodesha at the end of the first quarter, 27-7.
Colden Cook was also heavily involved early when he scored seven points in the first half. Hull then scored 12 points in the second quarter alone while Asher Hart scored four and Logan Page knocked down a three which helped the Cubs take a 46-19 halftime lead.
The offensive rampage continued in the second half. Sommer added on eight more points and Hull added six more points, including a couple more dunks.
“He (Hull) brings a lot of energy,” Taylor said. “He gets a lot of flushes because of the way we’re defending. Someone will tip one out and he’ll go get it. I thought he had a nice game and he knows if he runs, someone will get it to him.”
Neodesha was led by Maddux Johnson’s 10 points, including a couple three’s, Mason Springer’s seven points and Talon Roebuck’s five points.
Humboldt (30/1-11-12—73) (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Miller 0-0-1-0, Hull 8-4-2-20, Cook 6-2-2-14, Gomez 0-1-0-1, Ellis 3-0-1-6, Sommer 8-3-2-19, Harrington 1-0-1-2, Page 1-0-2-3, Hart 2-0-0-4, Sterling 2-0-1-4.
